Voodoo no Jutsu
by Chiyume
Summary: Naruto discovers the somewhat interesting things one can do to a certain Uchiha Sasuke with a voodoo-doll... NaruSasuNaru, YAOI, rated M for later chapters. Read and Review please!
1. Flipping Pages

**Chapter 1 – Flipping Pages**

Naruto had, during his 20 years of living, never, not even once, been to Konoha's library.

He had walked passed the building many times, but he had never really noticed it. It had somehow just managed to melt into its surroundings and disappear from his comprehension. Like an old trinket that had been lying around the house for ages until you no longer bothered to recall its presence anymore. It had just been _there_.

Therefore he had been a bit stunned to find out that the library was, as a matter of fact, quite big.

It was, to put it in a simple word; H-U-G-E!

He had never seen such an amount of books in his entire life!

The shock had been so sudden that he had frozen dead in the middle of the doorway and made Sakura bump into him from behind.

A hard punch at the back of his head later, he awoke from his amazement and silently followed his pink haired team mate in between the rows of books, staring at the spines of thousand and thousands of books as he walked passed.

Now, one might wonder what it was that had finally made him break his 20 year-old absence to this place, and the answer consisted of two, intimidating words;

Jounin Exams.

Now, first it should be said that Naruto was not nervous about the exam itself. He had completed all the missions and rankings necessary to take it and he had probably been through more in the past four years then any of the other exam takers had together.

The chase after Orochimaru, the defeating of the Akatsuki and then the final retrieval of Sasuke to the village had been evolving, to say the least, so as far as his physical skills concerned, he was not worried.

He had been so convinced that he was going to pass without any trouble at all.

So completely sure!

Then Sakura had unconsciously given him the most unpleasant surprise of his entire life, when she asked him if he had finished his studying for the theoretical test already?

_Theoretical test_!?

Nobody had told him that there would be a theoretical test!

Why would there be a theoretical test!?

He thought there would just be a display of their skills and ability to handle themselves in battle!

Sakura had patiently explained to him that since the theoretical test during the Chuunin Exams had been a fake one, the _real_ test would be taken during this exam instead.

The despair was a fact.

After much fawning and begging, mostly on his knees, Sakura had agreed to help him with his studying, which had led to why he was now spending his afternoon sitting at a table in the library, hunching over books and scrolls, while Sakura helped him take notes on things that might turn out to be important.

She had told him that he could ask Sasuke for some pointers as well, since Sasuke had already passed his exam the year before, but Naruto refused.

The bastard would probably just make fun of him for not knowing about the test in the first place and then leave him to take care of the problem by himself. So, thank you, but no thank you…

However, it was common knowledge that Naruto wasn't exactly the kind of person who was famous for being able to sit still during an extended period of time, and after two hours of intensive studying; his entire body was itching to get out of the wooden chair he was currently sitting in.

With a lame excuse about going to find some book about the history of the five great Ninja countries, he got up from the table and quickly walked off, disappearing behind a bookshelf.

He wasn't really looking for anything special; he just wandered around, sometimes pulling out a book somewhere, eyeing it, flipping through the pages and then putting it back.

The long corridors of books seemed to have no end, and he thanked whoever it was that had come up with the idea to put up signs pointing towards the entrance, as he realised that his sense of orientation had completely abandoned him. By now he had wandered far away into the library and the books and scrolls in the shelves around him showed evident proof of that they had not been handled in a very long time.

As he passed one of the shelves, he noticed a faint glistening in the corner of his eye and turned towards it.

There, in eyelevel with him was a black leather book with golden kanji-symbols imprinted on its spine. The sun shining in through the windows above made the letters glisten and shimmer, sending their reflection into his eyes.

He reached out and pulled the book out from the shelf. The texture against his fingers was rough and he could feel the light bugles in the leather where the kanjis had been printed.

A thick layer of dust covered the top of the book and he dusted it of lightly before turning it over and reading the title of the book.

_Jutsus around the World._

Underneath the text there was also a golden imprint of the ANBU-symbol.

Curious he opened the book up on a random page and began reading.

There was something called "Levitation no Jutsu" that was supposed to make things float in the air, though it took an incredibly large amount of chakra, since you literally had to lift the entire object with it, keeping it steady.

And then there was another one that could manipulate time, but directly underneath the name of the jutsu there was another, larger text, warning you from using it unless you had a very high chakra-control. Apparently, even the slightest disturbance in the chakra-flow while time-shifting could cause you to split up, sending your body three years back in time while your heart was left to beat alone in the presence, leading to immediate death.

Naruto shuddered at the thought and continued to flip through the pages.

Suddenly an image flashed past before his eyes, catching his attention and he stopped, slowly turning the pages back until he found what he was looking for.

The image covered almost half of the page, showing something that looked like a chibi-plushie, only it was made from some kind of leather pouch with rough strands of hair sticking up from it. The plushie was dressed in a rag of some kind that looked as if it had been ripped off from a bigger piece of cloth.

Above the image there was three words written in big, black letters that were basically screaming up at him to look at them.

He read the bold letters silently to himself.

"'Voodoo no Jutsu'…"

The word had a certain ring to it, almost forbidden, and his eyes slowly trailed past the picture down to the description of the jutsu.

Apparently, this jutsu's efficiency wasn't based on how much chakra you had or how well you were to use it. The difficulty of this particular jutsu was to collect the items necessary to perform it. Since it was designed to be used on enemies, the most important thing needed was discretion and stealth-skills.

He was just about to continue to how the jutsu was performed when suddenly Sakura appeared around the corner.

"What are you doing, Naruto?"

"Nothing, I was just reading." he answered and closed the book.

"Well, c'mon then, you still have a lot left to go through. Don't wander off and waste time like that!"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan."

He put the book back into the shelf and followed Sakura back to the table, continuing his studies underneath Sakura's watching eyes.

-------------------

Naruto dodged Sasuke's fist and quickly spun around to deliver a kick against the raven's stomach. Sasuke blocked it with his left arm, grabbing hold of the leg with his right, twisting it so that the blonde was forced to spin around again. Naruto took the opportunity and sent another kick with his free leg against Sasuke's head as he came twisting around, but missed and was roughly thrown down onto the ground, face first, loosing his breath for a second as it was knocked out of his chest.

He rolled over to his back and was faced with Sasuke's fist coming flying down towards him and rapidly moved out of the way. The fist hit the ground only centimetres from where his head had been, sending up a cloud of dust into the air.

"Stop moving around so much, Dobe." He snorted and straightened up again.

"And let you hit me? Are you stupid?"

Naruto launched forward and delivered a four-hit combo against the other boy, which, to his annoyance, Sasuke blocked perfectly.

"Hn. You talk as if I wouldn't be able to unless you did."

As if proving a point, the palm of Sasuke's hand suddenly got roughly shoved against Naruto's chest, sending the blonde flying backwards.

Naruto stumbled, but managed to keep his balance. He looked up and saw Sasuke standing there calmly, smirking at him and as always that mocking sneer made him grit his teeth in frustration, pissing him off.

He dashed forward again, but this time he didn't even have time to make a proper aim before Sasuke's arm suddenly flashed out and grabbed his, spinning him around, pinning the limb to his back. Then he felt a leg get pushed in between his and with a gasp his feet got swept of the ground when Sasuke tripped him.

After that his vision got blurry when his body and head connected with the earth underneath him, once again face first, and once again his breath got knocked out of his lungs.

He felt Sasuke straddle him from behind and how both of his arms now were held captive in a firm grip, locked against his back.

"You give, Dobe?"

Naruto couldn't turn around, but he didn't have to do that to be able to tell what the expression on Sasuke's face was at that moment, and he let out a frustrated groan as his arms were pushed higher.

"All right, I give, damn it!"

He felt the weight of his team mate leave his body and how the grip around his hands loosened and he quickly stood up.

He didn't want to increase Sasuke's victory by staying on the ground longer then necessary.

Sasuke was also standing, leaning against the trunk of a tree with his arms folded across his chest.

"Tch, you've got to stop hanging around the library soon. You're slacking off, Dobe." He commented, still with the same smirk on his face.

"I will, as soon as the exams are over." Naruto replied dryly, dusting of the front of his jacket.

"Hn, so you still intend on taking that test?"

"Of course I do!" Naruto glared at him. They had been over this before. Every time Sasuke won a sparring there would be the same story, as if his victory was proof that Naruto wasn't ready for the rank of jounin yet.

And sure as that, Sasuke answered the glare with a sneer and a raised brow.

"And how do you expect to make it through the exams when you can't even beat me in a one-o-one fight?"

Naruto snorted.

"Shut up, Sasuke. Or I'll come over there and wipe that smirk off your face!"

"Hn. Give it up, Dobe. I told you before, if you want to beat me, become stronger then me."

Sasuke nonchalantly turned around and started walking away. His voice leisurely came drifting back over his shoulder as he added in a mocking voice;

"Or learn how to use mind control or something."

Naruto's fists clenched at his sides and he almost opened his mouth to holler back an insult to the other teen, but shut it again. Resolutely he spun around and stomped off down the road heading back to the village with his hands angrily shoved into his pockets.

Damn Teme! Who the hell did he think he was?!

Naruto could beat him; they both knew that, it wasn't as if it hadn't happened before.

He maliciously kicked a rock lying in his path, sending it flying down the road in a wide arch.

"Become stronger then me…" he mimicked in a girlish, squeaky voice and kicked another rock.

"I don't need to become any stronger to beat you, Teme, I'll kick your ass any day!"

He could hear the other teen's mocking voice ring inside his head and his glowering at the ground intensified.

_Learn how to use mind control or something._

_Use mind control or something…_

_Or something…_

He froze, his foot hanging in midair for a second before he placed it back on the ground. He blinked once, twice, and then a familiar, smug grin slowly spread itself across his face.

"Yeah... I guess I can do that…"

* * *

**So, whaddaya think? Something worth continuing with?**

**Review and tell me, k?**

* * *


	2. Preperations

**Chapter 2 – Preparations**

Naruto was sitting in his bed with his legs crossed, Indian-style.

The black book was lying in his lap, open on the page where the voodoo-jutsu was displayed.

Around him on the bedspread laid four various objects, each neatly sorted into its own pile.

The blonde leaned down over the book and traced an index-finger over the list of things needed to perform the jutsu, looking up only to check off the things from a mental list.

_**Object nr. 1 – The Medium.**_

_The medium is the centre, or body of the voodoo-doll used to perform the jutsu. The object in question must have a strong connection to the jutsu-wielder mentally and spiritually, since apart from chakra, that it what controls the jutsu's efficiency._

_Also, this makes it so that the doll can only be used by the wielder, preventing usage by anyone else who might pick it up by mistake. _

_Note that the jutsu also cannot be ended by anyone else but the wielder._

That one had been easy. Naruto eyed the chibi-plushie that lay on the bed. He had found it in a plastic bag in the deepest corner of his wardrobe where he kept old toys and stuff that he didn't want to throw away. It was supposed to be the replication of a human person, some sort of cartoon-figure he recalled, not more then a hand tall. The chibi was wearing a blue t-shirt and a pair of black trousers. The hair had been bright brown from the start, but Naruto had fixed that with a black marker. He thought that if he was going to do this, he might as well do it properly.

So Object nr. 1 – Check.

_**Object nr. 2 – The Body**_

_The object for the body represents the physical connection to the jutsu-wielder and the jutsu-target. _

_In order for the jutsu to work properly on the right person, a piece of the target's DNA-chain is needed._

_This can be represented by either Blood, Skin, Hair etc._

_Make completely sure that the sample of DNA really belongs to the target, or else the jutsu will not work properly. _

Naruto sniggered as he looked up at the plastic bag containing a raven-black strand of hair.

That one he had thought would be a bit tougher, but it had been surprisingly easy…

----------_**Flashback**_--------------

"_Sasuke!"_

"_Hn?"_

"_Don't move!"_

_Sasuke scowled._

"_Why not?" he asked, slightly annoyed. Usually he would have turned around to look at the blonde already, but there was a weird tone in the blonde's voice which he couldn't place so he decided to be still. At least until he found out what the sudden outburst was all about._

"_There's something in your hair."_

_Sasuke raised a hand to uncaringly brush away whatever it was the moron was talking about but his hand got caught in a hard grip halfway up to his head._

"_Don't. You'll make it bite you."_

_Sasuke stiffened._

"_What is it?" he asked, a little less annoyed then before._

"_I don't know. Some sort of animal."_

"_Well, what are you waiting for? Get it off."_

"_Hold on. I don't want to scare it."_

_Sasuke heard the faint sound of a kunai being pulled out of its pouch and flicked his eyes to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of what the other was doing._

"_If you stab me in the head, you're dead, Dobe." He said threateningly._

"_Tch. Not as much as you'll be. Now be still."_

_Sasuke felt Naruto's hands gently brush against his neck and for a moment he closed his eyes, not sure if he was supposed to feel nervous about the kunai being pointed towards his scalp or the fact that the touch of the other's hand actually didn't feel that bad._

_Then there was a slight tug at his hair and then the blonde moved away._

"_There, all gone."_

"_Did you kill it?" Sasuke asked glancing back. Reluctantly he admitted to himself that he actually was a bit curious to what it was._

"_No, I just threw it away."_

"_What was it then?"_

"_No idea. But it looked icky as hell."_

"_Hn."_

_Sasuke leaned back against the tree he had been resting by and tilted his head back, closing his eyes again, and thus he didn't see the smug grin on the blonde's face as he carefully tucked something into his back-pocket._

----------_**End Flashback**_-----------

So, Object nr. 2 – Check.

_**Object nr. 3 – The Mind**_

_The mind is represented by an object belonging to the target. The mind serves at the mental connection between the doll and the target, preventing the target from simply dispelling the jutsu if discovered. _

_The target must have a strong mental connection to the object in it self. For the efficiency and stability of the jutsu, it is needed that the object used gives the target a calm, harmonic state of mind. An object that evokes revolting feelings, such as rage or sadness, will affect the entire jutsu negatively._

_**Object nr. 4 – The Spirit**_

_In contrary to the mind, the object used for the spirit will have to represent strong feelings and emotions for the target. Note that the also this object must originally belong to the target._

Man, that first one had almost made him go crazy!

First of, what kind of _object_ could possibly put Sasuke in a calm state of mind?

At first he had thought about a kunai or something, since the Uchiha always seemed to be twirling one of those around his fingers when he was bored or thinking about something. But then he had also noticed the way he then sometimes would throw it into the ground in front of him with an evil lash of his wrist, only to pull it up again and repeat the motion with a vicious glint in his eyes.

So the kunai obviously represented both good and bad feelings.

Not good.

And then of course there was the hitaiate. Naruto remembered how Sasuke had gotten it when his actions as a missing-nin had been scratched from the records. He had been sitting on the stairs to the Hokage-tower until the sun went down, just looking at it with a strange smile on his lips.

But c'mon, as if Naruto would be bale to steal…eh, no, _borrow _that!

He had watched, he had followed, he had spied, and after almost a week of constant surveillance, he had found it. And he had been completely stupefied.

He had never thought it would be something so simple.

Something so evident.

It had been lying there in front of his nose all along!

Since Sasuke came back to the village, he had settled down in a house in the southeast part of Konoha, not in the Uchiha-district, but close enough.

The house was small, simple, more like a small cottage then a house, but the garden…

The garden was stunning.

There were no flower arrangements, no sculptures, not anything that indicated that the garden had been planned or planted by humans.

It was wild, fierce, left to its own will and whim.

A small creek seeped out from above a cairn in the upper part of the garden, creating a small waterfall as it flowed of the rocks and into a pond, which in turn led in a stream that weaved itself through the miniature jungle.

Flowers bloomed everywhere, big red clematis creepers winded themselves around the low bushes and trees that grew there and random patches on the ground were covered in delicate lilac and pale-blue flowers.

It was as if a gate to paradise itself had opened and closed, leaving a piece of itself behind.

The only thing that showed that it had been tampered with was the spot around the small porch on the back of the house, overlooking the scenery.

About five feet of the area around it had been filled up with small, white rocks that slowly had been grinded to round shapes and carefully polished by the flowing water in the rivers up in the mountains, creating a small walkway leading to the front of the house.

Despite his humble residence, Sasuke _was_ the only heir to the Uchiha clan A clan that still counted to one of the richest in the fire country. If he wanted to spend tons of money on getting those rocks handpicked and transported to his house, there was nothing to stop him.

And the worst part was that he still had enough money left to do the same thing a hundred times over again.

To the point was; that every night, Sasuke would sit on the edge of that porch, looking out over his garden, lost in thought. And then, at some point, he would always, like clockwork, reach down and grab a handful of rocks and then slowly throw them back again until he only had one left. Then he would lie down on his back, staring up at the sky, rolling the rock in the palm of his hand and slowly, drift of to sleep.

He never slept long, but he did sleep.

Every single time.

Naruto glanced over at the single white rock lying on his bedspread. It looked as if it was made out of quartz, small, fine lines of silver-coloured minerals spreading out across the milky surface like a cobweb.

He had waited until Sasuke had woken up and walked back into the house, and then snuck into the garden. He had watched the raven throw the rock back at the ground, but he knew that he would be able to recognize this one. It was slightly larger then the others and the silver-pattern all around it had made it especially noticeable in the white mass.

Object nr. 3 – Check.

The last object had almost been given.

He picked up the small Japanese paper-fan with the red and white pattern and waved it slightly. It wasn't big, not bigger then the palm of his hand, as if it belonged to a child.

This one he had nicked from Sasuke's own bedroom when the jounin had left for training.

It had been shoved away inside his closet.

Yes, Naruto had as a matter of fact been in Sasuke's closet, since the closet was the place where Naruto kept his own personal stuff that he didn't want others to run through.

It had been lying in a box that didn't look as if it had been touched for months, maybe years.

He looked at the back of the paper fan, reading the small elegant writing.

"Happy New Year Otouto".

The thought of that Sasuke had kept the gift from his older brother, even after all these years and all the things that had happened made Naruto a bit unsure if he should actually use it. But he was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable in the other's house and the thought about that Sasuke might come back was constantly nagging inside his head.

So he had taken it.

No!

Borrowed.

He had _borrowed_ it!

He intended to return every single thing once this little prank was over. That means it wasn't stolen nor taken. It was _borrowed_.

He quickly placed the fan on the bed again and returned to the book in his lap.

Object nr. 4 – Check.

He continued reading the last part of the text.

_**Handseals**_

_Sheep (humility), rat (stealth), snake (the patience to strike while hidden), horse (balance), tiger (determination)._

He looked out over the items again.

The book had stated clearly that the power to control and mold chakra wasn't as important as stealth and patience to perform the jutsu, and now he could clearly see why.

Getting this stuff from Sasuke had been tough, and it had taken him almost two weeks. He didn't even want to think about how hard it must be to perform the jutsu on someone who was considered and enemy, who actually suspected to be attacked in some way.

He picked up the doll and eyed it and then a smug grin spread over his lips.

Oh, was he going to teach that stuck up bastard a lesson or what…

He tied a small piece of string around the plushie's waist like a belt and then he made a small pouch from a piece of cloth and another piece of string and attached it to it.

At first he thought about just sticking the fan in the primitive belt, but afraid of the risk to loose it, he fastened it with a piece of string as well.

It took no time at all, something he was grateful for. He wanted to try the jutsu out as soon as possible, but he kept reminding himself that he had to keep himself calm and patient, or else the entire jutsu would go straight down the drain.

He removed the book from his lap and replaced it with the doll.

Then he took a deep breath, concentrating all his chakra to his fingertips as the book had instructed and then did the correct hand seals in a swift, flowing manner and then he resolutely grabbed the doll with both hands and mentally forced his chakra into the lifeless toy.

To be honest, he had expected some kind of reaction.

A bang, a bright light, a puff of smoke, a transformation… But the doll looked just as harmless as ever.

He poked it lightly, almost wanting it to give him an electric jolt or something, but nothing happened.

Did it fail?

Had he gotten the wrong items all the same?

He sighed and slouched his shoulders.

He glanced at the picture in the open book and a tiny flicker of hope emerged. To be honest, that doll didn't look that special either. Maybe that was the point?

He looked at the doll in his hands and then got up from the bed, heading for the door.

Transformation or not, he could always try it out…

* * *

So, if you were Naruto…

What kind of pranks or naughty stuff would you pull on –_cough_-poor-_cough_- Sasuke?

I have some things in mind, but ideas from the outside are always welcome.


	3. Testing, Testing

**Chapter 3 – Testing, Testing….**

Naruto found his naught-suspecting, soon-to-be victim outside the grocery store. Sasuke had his back turned towards the street, which was lucky for Naruto since he now could watch the other boy without being discovered himself as he did his little test-session.

Sasuke was standing on the left side of a magazine-rack, the kind that you spin to reach the different volumes and he was currently eyeing through them with his usual half-bored-to-death-expression on his face.

From his position across the street Naruto couldn't see what the raven was reading, but at the moment he didn't really care.

He reached into the left pocket of his trousers and wrapped his fingers around the mini-Sasuke-doll and while keeping his eyes locked on the other teen's back he poked the doll on the right arm with his index finger.

To say that Sasuke 'stumbled' was, the least to say, an understatement. If Naruto were to choose, he would have said that the best word to describe Sasuke's movement was that he was being 'catapulted' into the magazine-rack.

Sasuke landed in a heap on the ground with a surprised yelp and then there was a huge ruckus as he began to untangle himself from the metal-rack and magazine-covers that had scattered all around him on the street.

The shop-owner came out through the door just as Sasuke managed to stand up and started yelling at him and ordering him to clean up the mess he had caused while waving a broom around as if it was a weapon.

Trying to maintain the little dignity he had left by brushing of the front of his shirt Sasuke just nodded and picked up the rack from the ground.

The man watched as he started picking up the scattered magazines as well and then he went back inside with a satisfied grunt.

On the other side of the road, Naruto's jaw had dropped and his eyes had widened in something resembling awe, as he watched Sasuke go from a relaxed, vertical stance to a sudden, most involuntary, horizontal one. When Sasuke fired of a hard-set tirade of x-rated words that he most certainly had not learned at the academy, Naruto blinked twice and swallowed sheepishly.

"Oops…"

He looked down at the hand still placed inside his pocket.

_I guess I poked to hard…_

Then the shop owner had come darting out the door, holding his broom out in front of him as if he was about to give Sasuke a thwack in the head with it, and he had been forced to clap his hand in front of his mouth to prevent him from laughing out loud.

Sasuke looked like a cat that had just gotten a bucket of cold water poured over him and Naruto had to hide behind a nearby barrel when those black eyes began searching the street for the person who, obviously, had pushed him.

When Sasuke didn't find anyone looking suspicious he returned to the magazines on the ground and Naruto peered out behind the barrel cautiously.

Okay, so he obviously had to work on his touch a bit.

He pulled out the doll form his pocket and looked at it.

He looked at Sasuke again.

By now the other teen had gathered up almost all of the magazines from the street and was reaching down to pick up one of the few that were left.

Naruto gently ran a finger along the doll's spine from the small of the back to the base of the neck and almost howled out loud with laughter when Sasuke unceremoniously dropped the entire stack of magazines as he sharply straightened up and arched his back in a startled, squirming–motion before whirling around and glaring daggers at every single person who happened to be around.

Naruto had a hard time trying to stifle the laughter that was bubbling up from inside of him at the sight of the flustered Uchiha.

Oh, the fun he would have with this doll!

With a final glance at the raven from across the street he decided that it was time to leave before said raven began tearing buildings apart or something like that in search for his unidentified 'pusher'.

With a snigger he put the doll back into his pocket and stalked off.

So many things to plan… so little time…

-------------------

The day after the magazine incident, Sasuke walked out onto the south plain of the training grounds to meet up with his 'students'.

Well, technically they weren't his students. Usually they were under the supervision of Ebisu, another jounin that Sasuke (luckily) had managed to avoid any advanced contact with in the past.

However, it was part of a Jounin's duties to take on a group of genins to supervise them during training and missions, and since Sasuke didn't have a group of his own yet (not that he was that eager to get one in the first place), he had been appointed with Ebisu's group while the other man was off on a mission of his own.

Now, Sasuke knew very well who the people of his group were, a knowledge that didn't do much to improve his already faltered mood.

His morning had, to put it short, been disastrous.

When he got out of bed, he had started the day with tripping on the sheets, fall on his ass in the bathroom, pour his juice into his cereals and then manage to get his sleeve stuck in the door when he was leaving the house.

Adding this, one could understand that the prospects of spending his morning looking over Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon while they were walking dogs or weeding some old lady's garden, wasn't Sasuke's idea of how the perfect start of a day should be.

The three gremlins were already at the scene when he arrived, but he had not intended to be there on time anyway. I he was going to baby-sit them all day he sure as hell wasn't going to give them the pleasure of having _him_ waiting for _their_ arrival.

They were sitting down when he came into view but quickly lined up in a straight line when he came closer.

At least that was one thing that was good about it all. His reputation in Konoha had gone from ninja genius to bad-ass ex-villain, which in turn made people show at least somewhat more respect towards him then they would have otherwise.

As for himself, he thought it was annoying most of the time, since he was, as mentioned above, an _ex_-villain. But every now and then, like now, it could be quite handy.

He stopped and placed both of his hands in his pockets and looked at his 'students'.

Konohamaru was wearing that annoying scarf-thingy around his neck as usual. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder how the kid had avoided being suffocated by it so far. It was only a matter of time before the brat got himself stuck in a tree somewhere and hung himself.

The other boy of the group wasn't much better.

Dull eyes, glasses, slouching shoulders, runny nose…

The girl was the only one in the bunch who seemed relatively normal, not taking her hairstyle into the calculation…

Sasuke sighed inwardly… he had a feeling this was going to be a very long day…

"So… Do you know what today's mission is or do I have to sum it up for you?" he sighed, making it clear to them that he wasn't there to make friends.

The girl, Moegi, he recalled, raised her hand immediately.

Udon wiped his nose with his sleeve and Konohamaru just stared at him blankly.

Sasuke nodded towards the girl, motioning for her to talk, glad that he wouldn't have to.

"Ebisu-sensei said that we were going to help with the reparation of the south-west obstacle course."

Sasuke nodded again. He knew that place. Obviously Lee and Gai had been training there the other week and the whole thing had turned into some kind of weird contest between the two. The results had been… devastating, in lack of a better word.

One would think that the two energetic morons would be the ones who got to repair the place, but Tsunade had changed her mind saying that it would be a good training-opportunity for the genins. Instead she had sent the green duo away.

On two different missions.

Away from each other.

For two months.

Sasuke had heard that it had been a very tearful good-bye that had taken place at the main gate the next day, complete with a sadistically smirking Tsunade standing behind them to make sure that their departure were on time.

Sasuke swore, sometimes that woman was pure evil.

His thoughts were interrupted when Konohamaru turned towards his female team mate and pointed at her with an accusing finger.

"You said we were going to learn some new awesome technique today! You lied!"

Moegi snorted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Tch. As if you would have shown up here at all if I hadn't."

Konohamaru blinked and then mimicked her action with crossing his arms over his own chest and turning away partially.

"You still lied." He sulked.

Sasuke cleared his throat and they immediately turned towards him again. The raven held back a sigh and with a throw with his head he gestured to them to follow as he turned around to walk away.

"Let's go."

He took three steps forward and then he felt the unmistakable touch of something hooking around one of his ankles and before he knew it, he almost got his nose buried into the dirt as he was tripped. He was saved though by his reflexes and reached out with his hands and did a quick handstand before doing a back flip, landing safely on his feet and swirling around to face his students.

_To have the nerve…!_

"Exactly _what_ do you think you're doing?" he asked harshly and instinctively locked his eyes on Konohamaru.

The three of them just blinked. They had just witnessed their substitute-sensei do a spontaneous handstand-back-flip and now he was asking them what _they_ were doing?

When none of them answered Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at them.

"Well?!" he enquired impatiently.

"Uhm… we're…" Konohamaru gulped. Sasuke's eyes were drilling holes into his head. "We're… _going_?"

He looked at his team mates for support, who nodded eagerly.

"Eh…Exactly!" Moegi ensured. "Ready when you are Sensei!" she did a small salute and looked at him assuasive.

The other boy just wiped his nose with his sleeve again and nodded.

Sasuke shifted his eyes from Konohamaru to the girl who blushed and squirmed underneath the interrogating gaze, but she didn't say anything else.

They were all keeping a straight face and he realised that he wouldn't get any further with them as it was.

"Right…" he said slowly and after giving each of them a final warning look, he turned around and started walking again.

He had only gotten a few steps when he heard what was probably meant to be a whisper from Konohamaru float through the air behind him.

"I heard that he's been acting all queerish ever since he got back to the village."

"You mean as in mentally dangerous?"

Sasuke halted and studiously slowly he raised his hands and cracked his knuckles loudly, one by one.

Smirking at the sudden dead silence behind him he picked up his tracks and lead them on to the training site.

-------------------

Naruto sat comfortably perched in a tree overlooking the reparation-site.

The voodoo-doll was lying neatly in his lap and he was studying the four ninjas below him as they moved around, with his arms folded behind his head, leaning against the tree-trunk.

Naruto had had a very busy morning.

He had woken up early and been outside Sasuke's house just in time to see the other boy wake up through the window.

He had tripped him as soon as he had gotten out of bed, just to make sure that the bastard's day would start of _just_ right. Then he had done it again as Sasuke was about to exit the bathroom and almost laughed his ass of when the raven had tore down half of the interior with him in the fall.

He had, however, not had anything to do with his breakfast. That little disaster Sasuke pulled off all on his own. As he had done with the front door.

Naruto had never gotten stuck in a door before, so he had no idea of how Sasuke managed to pull it off, but apparently it involved a great share of foul language.

That was a nasty little habit of his that Naruto had not been aware of before. Sasuke wasn't one to curse openly, but he sure didn't seem to have a problem with it while he was alone.

Something he had picked up during his little adventures with Team Snake, he was sure…

Following Sasuke to the training grounds had been easy since Sasuke seemed to be way too far into his brooding self to notice whether he was being followed or not.

Now, when Naruto had tripped the bastard he had done it all on a whim, so he had gotten quite worried when his victim had whirled around with an apparent intention to kill whichever of his three youngsters that appealed him the most.

Which, apparently, had been Konohamaru.

And for once, even if it probably wasn't going to help much, the boy was actually innocent.

It had turned out okay though, even if Sasuke had the look of a stormy rain cloud on his face as the four of them walked off, but as long as all three kids were alive and breathing, everything was fine.

Naruto didn't want the only people who actually looked up to him get killed because he couldn't keep his fingers under control.

He grinned to himself.

But it was so much fun!

He glanced down again.

Sasuke had put the other three to work with clearing up the leftovers of the training equipment that was still standing, and had also given them completely free hands to do so.

Konohamaru seemed to be pretty good with the bunshin-technique and was attacking the remains with his clones, kicking it into pieces, even though the clones didn't last that long since they constantly got into fights with each other, irrupting in loud _–puffs-_ of smoke.

The other two seemed to be content with sticking to the old fashion way, using ordinary tools, and Sasuke… well, frankly he didn't seem to give a shit about how they did it, as long as he got to stay out of it.

He was sitting on a batch of logs that they were going to use to build the new obstacle course and Naruto thought that he looked extremely bored.

He looked down on the doll lying in his lap and then back to the raven.

Or, the back of the raven's head.

On the funny-looking spikes that somehow managed to stand up straight from his head in any thinkable situation.

Naruto had wondered many times what it was that made them do that. The thought of Sasuke placing a jutsu on his hair to keep it in place somehow seemed… unlikely… sort of…

They even managed to stand up in the rain, impossible enough.

_Wonder if they are all stiff if you'd touch them?_

Once again his eyes drifted between the Uchiha and the doll and slowly a new grin spread across his face.

He poked the doll's hair lightly with his index finger…

-------------------

Sasuke absentmindedly raised his hand and brushed it through his hair.

Once the three of them had gotten on with it they proved to be quite a hardworking team and half of the obstacle course was already dismantled.

He scratched the back of his head and watched another one of Konohamaru's clones disappear when it got hit in the head by another clone when he tried to steal it's hammer.

If only they could be a bit more _quiet_.

Pulling his fingers through the spikes on the back of his head he looked over at the other two genins.

They were quiet enough, and they seemed to be a whole lot better on teamwork than Konohamaru was.

He glanced back at the brunet who was now having a heated argument with his clones about which one of them who had misplaced the saw.

He frowned slightly and dug his nails harder into his scalp.

Perhaps he should tell Ebisu that his students needed some guidelines in that matter?

On the other hand it wasn't really his place. They weren't his team and if Ebisu didn't think it was necessary then he shouldn't- okay, now this was staring to get annoying!

He felt a light, constant, tingling feeling on top of his head and he roughly pulled his hand over the spot to make it go away, but it didn't.

He scratched at it, but with the same absent result.

And then the feeling started _moving_.

He followed it with his hands, trying to locate what it was and suddenly had a flashback of the event a couple of days ago when Naruto had removed some sort of bug from his head.

His movements became more throughout as the thought of a bug crawling around in his hair hit him.

The feeling grew and soon it felt as if it was all over his head at the same time. He had tried to keep his movements as small and natural as possible, but when it felt as if he had an entire ant-hill squirming around on his scalp, all thoughts of small movements went lost.

He combed, he brushed, he scratched, he pulled, he fucking _clawed _but it didn't help!

And now it was spreading down his neck!

Resisting the urge to jump up and tare his shirt of to see what it was, he began scratching the skin with his nails, hoping that the pain would give him some refuge from the creeping feeling, but the only thing it gave him was angry red claw-marks.

Then, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

He looked around, almost as if expecting a swarm of bugs disappearing into the distance, but of course, there was nothing.

He pulled his hand through his hair a final time, just to make sure that it was truly gone and then lowered it slowly.

_What the hell was that?_

He never really got the time to think about it further because one second later he got roughly tackled to the ground from behind and he only got the chance to spot something orange mixed with black and a quick flash of familiar blonde fuzz before he landed with his face in the dirt.

"Ohayoo, Sasuke!"

"Get off me, dobe!"

"Ooh, someone's being touchy today."

"Get. Off."

"Okay, okay, jeez…"

Naruto climbed off the raven's back and watched with a grin as Sasuke stood up from the ground and dusted himself off.

"Hey, Sasuke?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

"What?" Sasuke snarled back.

"You've done something with you're hair?"

Sasuke stiffened.

"No."

"Really? Cause it looks _really_ different."

"No, it doesn't."

Naruto placed a hand demonstratively at his hip and hinged a brow at the other teen.

"Did you even bother to look in the mirror before you left home today?"

Sasuke glared at him.

"Only as much as you looked at your outfit before you left yours."

"Not at all then?"

"Shut up."

Naruto grinned wider.

Sasuke's hair looked as if he had just walked straight through a sandstorm, blizzard and a hurricane, complete with a twister at the end to top it all off.

To say that it didn't look any different than usual was a poor, and oh so obvious, lie.

For a second Naruto wished that he had owned a pocket mirror so that he could shove it underneath Sasuke's nose and tell him to take a really good, really loooong look at himself before opening his mouth again.

Not that he would survive the aftermath of such an act, but still…

Sasuke ignored the grinning moron and turned back towards his students, only to find that they were all three staring at him and said moron.

He suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be the scary, dangerous, mentally unstable substitute-teacher and realised just as quickly that that image was now, forever, lost.

He groaned inwardly and gnashed his teeth together.

Then there was a new puff of smoke and another, new figure emerged on top of the batch of logs Sasuke had been sitting on minutes before.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late, but something came up."

Sasuke glared at the white-haired jounin.

"What do you mean late?" he asked, not bothering with any greeting.

Kakashi looked at him and smiled. The same annoying smile Sasuke recognised from his childhood.

"I'm taking over for you from here on out. You and Naruto are going to see the Hokage about a mission."

At this Naruto snapped his head up.

"Mission?" he asked, blue eyes glistening with anticipation

Sasuke snorted.

"I'm already on a mission. Tell her to find someone else."

Kakashi shook his head.

"Sorry, she requested the two of you. You don't like it; take it up with her."

Naruto suddenly walked up and wrapped his arm around Sasuke's neck in a friendly manner and rubbed his knuckles into his upper arm.

"C'mon, Sasuke! It might be something fun!"

"Don't touch me."

"Is it just me or are you being even more bitchy then usual?"

Sasuke answered with grabbing Naruto's arm and prying it of his shoulders, intentionally digging his nails into his wrists harshly.

Naruto was about to say something else when Kakashi interrupted him with a light cough.

"You two can discuss Sasuke's mood swings when you get back from Tsunade's office. She wanted to see you as soon as possible, three hours ago, so I suggest you get a move on."

Naruto gaped at his former teacher.

"Three hours?!"

Sasuke sighed. Why wasn't he surprised?

Then suddenly Naruto turned towards him and gave him a _look_.

Sasuke looked back.

"What?"

"You're still holding my hand."

Sasuke looked down and realized that it was true and hurriedly let go, taking a slight step backwards in the process.

Maybe it was because Naruto had used the word 'hand' instead of 'wrist' that had made it feel so awkward, but suddenly he felt as if Naruto's azure gaze was way to fixed on him then what he found comfortable.

He quickly spun around and started walking off.

"Let's go, Usuratonkatchi."

He heard Naruto snort loudly behind him, and he could literally feel the smirk that was aimed at his back.

"Whatever... Bed Head."

* * *

**Poor Sasuke. **

**And we're just getting started… XD**

**Review please!!!**


	4. Poor, Unfortunate Sasuke?

**Chapter 4 – Poor, Unfortunate... Sasuke?**

Naruto watched Sasuke's back as they made their way to the Hokage's office.

The raven sometimes pulled his hands through his hair in an attempt to smooth it out somewhat, but the results weren't that astonishing.

Oh, the look on the bastard's face! Naruto could have sworn that he had _heard_ the twitch from Sasuke's eye when he had called him "bed-head".

If could have frozen time he would have taken a picture, framed it and then given it to Sasuke for his birthday.

Nothing like making the stoic Uchiha loose his composure.

As they walked into the Hokage's office Tsunade threw a wondering look at Sasuke's hair, but judging from the glare she received back she deemed it wiser not to comment it.

The other brat, however, was beaming at her as if he was the sun itself.

She sighed inwardly. Even after all this time, they were still constantly at each other's throats...

She nodded towards a fourth person that was sitting next to the door, anxiously watching them.

He seemed extremely nervous and he made a startled jump when someone closed a door somewhere down the corridor. He had dark, curly hair that came poking out from underneath a small hat that balanced on top of his head. He also had a thick moustache and small eyes that kept flickering across the room.

He was dressed in a deep purple robe with golden embroideries around the collar and sleeves. Naruto's eyes drifted to the huge golden medallion he was wearing around his neck, and how those plump fingers would clutch around the thick chain every time an unexpected sound came drifting in through the window.

Jumpy guy it seemed.

"Uchiha, Uzumaki, this is Takahashi Daigo. He is the client for your mission."

They bowed their greeting towards him and he bowed back, though with a slight tremble.

He then proceeded with eyeing them up and down, fidgeting the golden chain nervously.

"Hokage-sama, I don't mean, by any indications to be rude, but... are you _sure_ that these two are the best you've got? He asked slowly.

Naruto blinked. The two _best_?

He glanced at Tsunade, but she just nodded towards Daigo affirmingly.

"Of course. Uzumaki and Uchiha are both very skilled ninjas. They will carry out this mission perfectly, I assure you."

The man bit his lower lip and Naruto watched as his eyes drifted to lock onto Sasuke's still ruffled hair and he almost laughed out loud. Oh, the timing!

"I guess I'll have to believe you then..."

He looked around the room, as if he was expecting someone to be standing in a corner and eavesdrop on them, and then he stuck his hand inside the robe and pulled out a small parcel which he reached out and gave to... Naruto.

"I trust you to deliver this safely to its destination." He said with a conspiratorialwhisper. "It is very important that it gets there before the week is over, and, just between you and me..." he gestured to him to get closer and then whispered into his ear. "I'd appreciate it if you kept an eye on that friend of yours. He seems to be a bit... unstable..."

At that moment Naruto was glad that he was facing away from Sasuke, because he was sure that both said Shinobi and Tsunade had heard the words the man had said, judging from the sudden tension that filled the room and the daggers being glared at his back. And still he had a hard time to keep himself from laughing. He straightened up and it was with will alone that he managed to keep a straight face.

"Don't worry, I will."

Daigo still looked doubtful, but he still turned around with a slight bow toward Tsunade.

"I leave the rest to you, Hokage-sama."

And then, with a last glance at Sasuke, he left the room.

As soon as the door had closed and the sound of footsteps had faded away, Naruto couldn't hold it anymore.

He turned around to Sasuke and waved the parcel in front of him like a lecturing finger.

"Na, Sasuke, you better not go wandering off now. Otherwise I won't be able to keep an eye on you."

Sasuke glared at him and snatched the parcel from his hand.

Naruto just grinned at the gesture, facing the stare head on, and then he turned to Tsunade and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the door.

"Ne, Baa-chan, what's up with that purple guy? He looked as if we were going to bite him or something."

Tsunade sighed and shook his head.

"He's always been like that. He's an old acquaintance of mine, but he still acts as f he's afraid of me."

_Can't imagine why..._ the thoughts in Naruto's head commented dryly.

"What's the mission?"

This time it was Sasuke who asked.

"You're taking that parcel to the Rain country and delivering it to his niece. He would have done it himself, but business is keeping him here for another two weeks. This will be considered as an A-rank mission, so I trust you to do your best."

Naruto eyed the parcel in Sasuke's hand. It looked completely ordinary. Shaped as a small box wrapped up in brown paper and tied up with a string.

"What's in the box?" he asked curiously. He thought that it must be rather important if this would be an A-rank. Like a secret document or message, but to his surprise Tsunade just shook her head again, looking tired.

"His niece's birthday present. I told him that he might as well send it with an ordinary genin-escort, but he refused. Daigo has grown... somewhat paranoid since I last met him. I managed to decrease his request for a full ANBU-escort to the two of you, but he wasn't happy about it. I had to convince him that you were as good as any ANBU-squad would ever be, but I'm not sure I succeeded."

While she spoke, Sasuke looked down at the parcel in his hand. That man wanted a full ANBU-squad for this? A suspicious thought began forming in his head and he narrowed his eyes at the Hokage.

"Is there anyone who's after this parcel?" he asked, but again Tsunade shook her head.

"No. It's just a birthday present. He has been very secretive about what it is exactly, but knowing his paranoia it's probably something completely without interest for anyone but his niece, who is about seven years old, by the way."

"Then why the A-rank." Naruto asked. He didn't quite understand this.

"Brat, aren't you paying attention? The man's _paranoid_, to the brink of insanity if you ask me. He believes that the parcel will get stolen by random thugs and thieves along the road and that our genins and their teachers won't be enough to protect it." The last part she said with an audible offended snort. She glared at them.

"You better not screw this mission up, you hear me?"

They both nodded.

"Good. You're dismissed."

She waved them out the door and once it was closed behind them, Naruto turned to Sasuke with a grin.  
"You think she owes him money?"

"Without a doubt."

-----------------------

Naruto was, officially, bored.

Not only had they been walking down this godforsaken, boring road for the last four hours, but his overly-boring team mate had not bothered with saying as much as a word during the whole time.

Not that Naruto hadn't tried to start a conversation, but Sasuke just 'hn'ed and then went quiet. Even their usual bickering and occasional verbal fights seemed to have been removed from the agenda.

Even a lame-ass argument about something completely pointless would be better than this...

"Hey, Sasuke. I'm hungry, lets stop." He whined, kicking a small rock out of his way and off the road.

"Hn, we ate before we left the village. You made me pay, remember."

Naruto snorted and glared at him.

"I did not _make_ you do anything, Teme. I'm out of cash, and I _was_ sure that I had two ramen-coupons left from yesterday!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at him, but didn't say anything else.

Avoiding conversation.

What's up with the bastard anyway?! Was he still mad that Naruto had gotten the parcel instead of him at the office?

As if that would matter, the parcel was laying safely inside _Sasuke's_ backpack now, not Naruto's.

No, it was something else.

"Ne, Sasuke, what's up with you today? You've been acting grouchy all day. Did someone trip you this morning or what?"

The pun slipped over his lips before he had the time to think, but then he realised that it was all right. After all, Sasuke thought that had been Konohamaru, and judging by the look he got from the raven next to him, Sasuke apparently hadn't forgotten about it.

"What? Someone did?" he added with faked surprise.

Yep, he definitely had _not_ forgotten.

Naruto laughed and fired of a snigger at the other teen.

"The almighty asshole Uchiha Sasuke got _tripped_!" he proclaimed, reaching his arms out as if he was talking to a mass of people.

"Marvel and rejoice, all, for there _is_ justice in the world!"

"And you are _this_ close of getting your ass kicked, Dobe."

Naruto's mouth closed shut and he fired of a new glare at Sasuke, but the glare turned into a new snigger when he suddenly got an idea.

"I bet you dinner at Ichiraku's that I'll kick your ass first."

Sasuke quirked a brow at him.

"Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"Nope. Actually, I bet you that you won't be able to land a single hit on me." He added a self-confident grin to the statement and relished when the challenge hit the other boy like a smack in the face.

Sasuke's eyes gleamed dangerously as he smirked back.

"In that case I believe you just got yourself a deal, Dobe."

_Got'cha!_

"Great!" Naruto looked around.

"Let's get off the road."

Sasuke nodded and they headed into the forest, walked until they were completely out of sigh and the trees towered high and tall all around them.

Both of them took of their backpacks and stood to face each other.

"You better refill your coupon-stash when we get home." Sasuke smirked. Naruto simply smirked back.

"Now, why would I need to do that when _you're_ the one who's gonna treat _me_?"

In the next moment both of them lashed forward and the battle begun.

Sasuke was merciless, obviously glad to finally be able to work out his frustration caused by the former events of the day.

Naruto let him deliver punches and kicks at him, blocking or dodging them, trying to keep himself from grinning victoriously from the very beginning.

He needed to time this right and make sure that the other boy was in the right angle or Sasuke would notice what he was doing.

When Sasuke jumped to the side after avoiding a kick from Naruto, the blonde saw his chance.

He quickly reached into his pocket and gave the doll the most shallow of touches and then quickly pulled his hand up again.

Sasuke's landing was unstable, not at all the gracious touchdown he used to perform and Naruto immediately took his chance and gave him a new kick in the stomach, this time hitting his target perfectly.

Sasuke groaned but quickly dodged the fist that was aimed at his head next.

In his head Naruto was busy controlling a steady stream of mirth that wanted to bubble up his throat and he almost failed miserably when Sasuke once again wavered in his steps after a discreet nudge at the dolls spine.

It was a dangerous balancing.

He couldn't allow himself to use the doll too much, or Sasuke would realise that something was going on, but at the same time he couldn't let the bastard win that easily.

Luckily, it wasn't that hard. Their taijutsu skills were not that different, it was just that little move at the end of it all that seemed to be the deciding one, and somehow Sasuke always managed to do that one right and Naruto managed to do it wrong, ending up being called a dobe and usuratonkachi while the bastard was straddling his back.

_But even dobes can get lucky sometimes..._

The final move was coming; he could feel Sasuke working it up, now the only thing he needed to do was to detect it in time. He blocked a kick, dodged a punch, and jumped back, Sasuke swirled around and...

_This is it!_

He lashed out, at the same time reaching into his pocket and jabbed the doll's right leg.

Sasuke's knee buckled underneath him, a centisecond before Naruto's own kick hit it from behind, creating the perfect illusion of him landing a flawless and clean hit.

Sasuke managed to stay upright, but the short moment of imbalance was all Naruto needed to grab hold of the raven's arms, wrap his leg around the other's ankle and pull it back, executing the Teme's own move flawlessly.

Sasuke fell forward and due to Naruto's hand being latched to his arms behind his back he was unable to brace himself. He groaned when the right side of his face connected with the moist forest floor and barely held back a hiss when he felt the blonde straddle him from behind, planting himself on his lower back.

"Your treat, Sasuke."

He didn't need to turn around to know that the idiot was wearing a huge, smug grin; the image of his voice provided him with that knowledge perfectly.

"Hey, bastard, I said 'your treat'."

Naruto nudged him at the back of his head with his index finger, enjoying the huffed tension this gesture caused to the other's muscles. He could hear Sasuke gnash his teeth together.

He grinned wider and leaned forward, placing his face next to the other boy's ear and whispered sweetly;

"Now, what was it the looser was supposed to say again?" He held back a chuckle when he felt Sasuke tense up eve more and continued, adding a teasing tone while doing a light swirl with his finger at the nape of the other's neck.

"I believe it was something along the lines of '_I give._'"

He waited for a reply. He didn't get any. He straightened up and poked Sasuke's head again.

"C'mon, say it!"

Still no answer.

"Would you quit sulking? It's only an expression."

He began to poke the other boy's back roughly and systematically from the neck and down, trying to provoke some kind of teme-ish response, but the only think he received back was another 'ugh' and a tremble.

He threw his free hand out and sighed.

"Alright, fine! You don't have to say it! Would you please speak now?"

This time he poked the boy in the side, growing tired of getting the silent treatment.

"Hah!"

Naruto froze, his eyes widening slightly. Was that...?

"Get off."

Sasuke's voice was dangerously low and had this been at any other time, Naruto would have obeyed him immediately. However, this was not any other time...

"Sasuke... did you...?"

"I said get off!"

He tried to wriggle out of the blonde's grip, but since Naruto was still holding onto his arms and was also still straddling him, it was pointless.

Meanwhile, during Sasuke's fruitless struggle, Naruto's lips had slowly curled up in a devilish grin and his voice held no mercy as he leaned forward against Sasuke's ear once again, slowly letting his free hand travel down the Uchiha's spine.

"Well, well, what do we have here...?" His grin grew wider as Sasuke's body made an undignified twitch when he sprawled his fingers along his left side just below the ribcage.

"'_I give_', was it not?"

"Don't even think about it, dobe." There was a hint of panic swirling underneath the commanding words and in that moment, Naruto knew that he had the Uchiha exactly where he wanted him.

"Too late."

He pushed the tips of his fingers in, one by one, slowly at first, feeling the raven stiffen and twitch for each one, then increasing the speed, going faster until the digits were tickling the boy's sides ruthlessly.

To Sasuke's credit it has to be said that;

- He was being held down, thus being bereaved any chance of escaping.

- He had never, for as long as he could remember, been tickled by anyone before, so he had absolutely no idea of just _how_ unbearable it could be.

And

- He was also enough of a genius to realise that trying to hold anything in and endure the blonde's treatment was, indeed, plain stupid.

Before even the third of Naruto's five fingers had touched him, he was squirming, wiggling and struggling to get away with only one incoherent though scrambling through his head.

_Makeitstop ohgod makeitstop Icanttakeitmakeitstop MAKE IT STOP!_

"Na-ha-naru-to! D-don't! S-stop it!"

Needless to say, Naruto did not stop; instead his fingers managed to find a new, even more sensitive spot a few inches up, making Sasuke's laughter grow louder and his struggle become even more desperate.

Sasuke had endured torture, he had been burned, hit, cut, everything and anything that could possibly earn pain to the human body, but nothing, absolutely _nothing_ could have prepared him for the mental and physical torture he now was under.

Tears were streaming down his face, his stomach was aching, and he couldn't_ get away_!

In sheer panic he began kicking his legs, hoping in his desperation that he somehow would manage to hit the dobe in the head.

He was being suffocated, smothered by his own laughter and his lungs were burning, his lungs were on _god damn fire_!

"Stop it! Naruto! I ca- I can't breathe! _I can't breathe_!"

"Do you give?"

"_Get off me_!"

"Do you give?!"

"Yes!

"Say it!"

"I-I gih-! _I give_!"

Naruto immediately removed his fingers, leaving the flushed and exhausted Uchiha panting on the ground beneath him, crossing his arms over his chest victoriously.

"There. Did it kill you to say that?"

Then suddenly he was thrown off as Sasuke violently rolled over and the next second Naruto was the one being straddled by Sasuke, Sharingan blazing only a few millimetres from his face.

"Don't you _ever_ _dare_ do that to me again!"

Naruto reached up to push the other boy off, but his hands were caught and efficiently pinned above his head. He let out a nervous laughter.

"It was just a joke, Sasuke c'mon."

"I'm not laughing." Sasuke hissed out and against better knowing, Naruto fired of another grin.

"Not anymore, you're not."

He winced as his wrists were twisted roughly and glared up at his team mate.

"Okay, so you obviously didn't find that funny." Sasuke smirked down at him

"Oh, but _that_ I found funny. Besides, if I twist your hands hard enough, you won't be able to tickle me again, right?" He gave the arms another light twist before leaning down further to the blonde's face.

"And by the way, if you ever do something like that to me again, I _will_ wring your wrists off. Clear?"

"Crystal-clear. Now would you please stop molesting me and get your ass of my crotch, it's getting kind of embarrassing."

Now, that comment was supposed to act as a wakeup-call to make the Uchiha focus on something _else_ then his obvious desire to hurt him, but the reaction he got was not the huffed-out 'hn' that Naruto had expected.

Sasuke's Sharingan went out like a light, his face turning ash-pale.

His entire body stiffened and he stared at Naruto as if the blonde had just told him that there was a snake in his boxers and then a fierce, red colour began to emerge on his cheeks, spreading towards his ears and neck until the last survivor of the Uchiha-clan looked as if he had inherited the pigmentation of a ripe tomato.

It all happened in less then than three seconds and then the raven hastily removed himself of the blonde and stalked over to his backpack, threw it over his shoulder and disappeared between the trees, heading for the road, his face still blushing madly.

Naruto stared after him, not really sure what he had said to make the guy loose his composure so completely.

Then he got up and dusted of his clothes before running to fetch his own backpack and chase after the raven, calling out to the quickly disappearing jounin-vest;

"You still owe me dinner when we get back, Teme!"

-----------------------

Stupid, smug, lazy, manipulative bastard….

Was it really necessary to make Naruto set up camp all by himself?

He glared over at the spot said bastard had disappeared at more then half an hour ago to 'scout the area' saying that it wouldn't take long and that Naruto should start with camp while he was gone.

Too late, Naruto realized that he had been tricked and was now left with the task of collecting firewood and preparing food all by himself while Sasuke was off somewhere, doing nothing!

He looked at the pile of few twigs and broken off branches he had found around their camp so far. It was hardly enough to make up a small fire and he doubted that Sasuke would be very impressed with his work.

He huffed and stood up, heading for the trees again.

If he was going to do this, at least he wasn't going to leave anything for the bastard to make any nifty remarks on.

The sun was about to set so he would have to hurry before it grew too dark to see anything.

Picking up sticks and firewood and collecting them in his arms he walked in a circle around the camp, never wandering deeper then he had to. That way, at least he wouldn't end up getting lost when the sun set.

For a moment he relished in the thought of covering the voodoo doll's eyes and leave Sasuke wandering around in the dark, bumping into trees and falling over roots while Naruto slurped up a delicious bowl of ramen by the fire.

"Like the world's biggest pinball-game..." he mumbled to himself and smirked at the image that sentence formed in his head.

_Tree – ten points, root – twenty-five points, small creek – bonus points..._

"Ferocious, wild animal – double speed..." He chuckled and leaned down to pick up a new twig when...

"Usuratonkachi."

"Ah!"

Naruto almost dropped his entire stack of firewood and swirled around, only to spot his make-believe pinball standing leaning against one of the trees that he had just walked pass.

"Teme! What the hell do you think you're doing, sneaking up on me like that?!"

"Hn. If anyone's going to be scared it should be me. _You're_ the one who's walking around in the woods mumbling and giggling to yourself."

"I did not giggle!"

Sasuke smirked.

"Oh, I believe you did."

Naruto glared at him.

_If only you knew what about, asshole. Bet that would wipe that smirk off your face..._

"Well, you do to." He lashed out angrily.

It was a lie of course, Naruto had never heard Sasuke do anything like that and Sasuke apparently saw the lie straight through since he just looked at him.

"Me? I'm supposed to be giggling and talking to myself?" he said sarcastically.

_Quick! Think quick!_

"In your sleep."

Sasuke's smirk immediately died and he narrowed his eyes at him.

"In my sleep?" he asked slowly, but now there were no longer any sarcasm in his voice.

_Jackpot!_

Naruto grinned and cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah. In your sleep. You talk an awful lot when you sleep."

This was also a complete lie, but since Sasuke was, as a matter of fact, asleep when it happened, how would he know?

Sasuke kept looking at him, as if trying to figure out if the blonde was playing him or not, but Naruto just met the glare head on with his smug grin.

"Actually, I would really like to know what you're dreaming about some times. Maybe I should start listening more careful to what you say, ne?"

For a moment Naruto thought he saw a shadow of panic cloud Sasuke's eyes, but then the raven abruptly turned around and started walking back the same way Naruto had come from.

"You're so full of shit, Uzumaki."

The only answer he got was a loud snort.

"Takes one to spot one, asshole..."

"Hn."

Naruto bent down to pick up the sticks he had dropped and when he straightened up and looked around to see how long Sasuke had managed to stalk off, he saw a small clearing between the branches in front of him and on the other side of the opening he saw... the camp.

It took a few seconds, but when it clicked he felt like running after the jerk and shove every single stick he had in his arms down the Teme's throat.

The bastard had been standing here, watching him all along as he had been working his ass off setting up camp!

_Probably with that god damn smirk plastered on his face the entire time..._

He gritted his teeth and glared down the path the raven had taken.

_I'll get you back for this, Teme. You just wait..._

-----------------------

When he eventually got back from the woods, Sasuke had already unpacked his own bedroll, started the fire and was currently unpacking the food. He didn't look up when Naruto stepped out into the glade, but when the blonde threw the firewood down next to the fire and flopped down onto his bedroll with an angry huff, Sasuke's mocking voice came drifting across the clearing at him.

"Did you get lost on the way back, usuratonkachi?"

Naruto answered by rolling over to his side, facing away from him.

Sasuke could tell that the blonde was in a foul mood; otherwise he would have received a testy comeback instead of the angry red swirl on the back of the dobe's jumpsuit.

He went back to the food and Naruto heard him unpack the stewpan and soon the familiar smell of ramen reached the blonde's nostrils.

Now, that caught his attention, and it also made him seriously suspicious.

Sasuke always went on and on about how he couldn't understand how Naruto could eat that 'junk' day in and day out and it was first after an entire hour of nagging that Naruto had managed to get him to Ichiraku's earlier that day.

So, why would Sasuke voluntarily cook something that he claimed to hate with the entire depth of his soul? Something that he knew Naruto loved with the same burning passion?

Was the bastard trying to make an attempted peace-feeler?

He snorted to himself.

Well, he didn't give a damn about any peace-feelers from that direction, he wasn't going to forgive him just like that, and he didn't care even if the Teme's ramen tasted better than Ichiraku's!

He curled up, putting up a defensive posture against the boy behind him, but apparently it didn't help since only a few seconds later he felt a nudge against his back.

"Oi, Dobe. Food's ready."

Naruto's temper flared up instantly.

The bastard was poking him!

With his _foot_!

He rolled over to his back and swapped the boy's sandal away.

"Get your disgusting foot off me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and stalked over to his own spot and sat down. Naruto looked to his side and found a steaming bowl of ramen, poured and ready to eat, neatly placed by his bedroll.

He sat up and placed the bowl in his lap, but then he glared at Sasuke.

"You planned on letting me to eat with my bare hands?"

Sasuke looked over at him and then reached into his backpack and threw him a set of chopsticks which Naruto caught midair.

"I thought you brought your own." He said with a shrug.

Naruto tried to detect anything hostile or mocking with that comment, but found none, so instead he turned his attention to the food and started eating.

It didn't taste that bad.

As a matter of fact it tasted quite good.

But he would never admit that to Sasuke, the stuck-up prick would never let him wear it down if he did...

None of them said anything during their meal and once both of them were finished Sasuke gathered the bowls and stewpan without a word and then disappeared into the forest again to find some water to wash up in.

While he was gone Naruto put some more wood on the fire and plucked with some of his own stuff until Sasuke came back.

Once he did and the final remains of their meal had been repacked, Sasuke silently laid down on his bedroll, and closed his eyes.

"You're taking first watch, dobe."

"What?! Why?"

"Because I made dinner and did the dishes, that's why."  
He heard Naruto mutter something about 'manipulative bastards' and a small, satisfied smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Naruto glared at his team mate, and yes, he saw the smirk the raven was currently wearing and barely resisted the urge to kick the other boy in the side as hard as he could manage.

Because, annoying as it may be, the bastard was right. It was only fair.

Naruto just wished he could have given him some kind of warning.

He stomped over to his own bedroll and sat down, staring into the flames of the fire in front of him.

Damn Uchiha. Damn mission. Damn everything.

He picked up a stick and poked it into the flames, causing a swarm of sparks to fly up into the air, only to disappear directly after.

He heard Sasuke shift and pull his blanket up and soon the raven's breath grew calm and steady as he went to sleep.

Naruto glared at him again, but it wasn't as satisfying now when he knew that the other wasn't awake.

He poked the stick into the fire again and pulled it out, watching the small flame that burned at the end of it for a few seconds before dying out. He repeated this action once, twice, thrice, and then it started to get boring.

He broke the stick in half and threw the pieces onto the fire and then leaned back onto his bedroll, steadying himself on his elbows.

Let's see. On the first day of their mission he had managed to;

Make Sasuke trip and fall over - at least three times, embarrassed him in public - five (not counting all the stares people had given his hair on their way to Tsunade), gotten him to pay for his dinner, won over him in a fight (and won a second dinner), found out a major weakness of 'Mr-I'm-So-Cool-Even-Ice Cubes-Are-Jealous', and had even gotten ramen for dinner.

All in all, not a bad day.

Of course, minor good things had been getting stuck with first watch and being left to set up camp by himself. He bet Sasuke had enjoyed leaving him to do all those things, knowing he had tricked him.

Naruto still refused to forgive him for that.

Just thinking about how he must have stood there, just watching him all along!

Naruto could picture it, the bastard leaning against that tree trunk with that smug grin on his face, congratulating himself...

He was so going to get him back for that.

Perhaps that pinball-thing wasn't such a bad idea?

He glanced over to the raven again.

Sasuke had turned so that he was now facing the fire, one arm tucked underneath his head as a pillow and the other hand gently resting on the first arm's elbow.

The red flames coloured his skin, causing shadows to dance and flicker across his features.

It was the only times Naruto knew that his friend actually looked peaceful. When he slept.

Distantly Naruto recalled the lie he had thrown out earlier that evening.

No, Sasuke didn't talk in his sleep.

As a matter of fact, he barely moved at all, just occasional shifts from one side to the other, but nothing remarkable enough to comment on.

Still... He had become so serious when Naruto had told him that he would start listening closer to those imaginary sleep-talking-moments... Almost as if he was afraid that Naruto would carry through with that threat.

He scowled.

What could that bastard be dreaming of that he was so scared that Naruto would find out about?

He studied Sasuke's face, but there were no signs that he was dreaming about anything at all.

Naruto sighed and tilted his head back and looked up at the sky above him.

What kind of dreams...?

Nightmares?

Of course, nightmares would be quite embarrassing to reveal to others, but at the same time...

Naruto didn't know about _all _of the things Sasuke had gone through during the years they had been separated, but he sure had a pretty good idea. Being ashamed for having nightmares after going through all of that... Naruto sure as hell wouldn't be.

And besides, Sasuke had already told him most of the things that had happened already, so there was no reason for him to be ashamed of that...

So no, not nightmares...

His thoughts drifted away, carefully going through all the things that could possibly fit in with the Uchiha's behaviour.

Eventually, the only thing he could think of would be the one and only thing_ anyone_ would want to keep to themselves; wet dreams.

His eyes drifted from the sky to his team mate again.

Who in the world would Sasuke, the most unsociable person in Konoha, possibly be having wet dreams about?!

Curiosity flared up inside Naruto's head as he mentally started going through all the girls he knew of, and found to his disappointment that he couldn't find a single plausible match.

Was it even possible that Uchiha "the Ice Prince" Sasuke, had the hots for somebody?

Immediately, an eden of possibilities opened up in the blonde's head.

If he found out who that girl was, the chances of blackmailing the Uchiha in the future were infinite!

All he needed to do was wait until the bastard was dreaming and then make him start talking!

He studied Sasuke's face for any signs of an ongoing dream, but it stayed immobile.

Naruto stood up and crawled over to the sleeping raven, lowering his head so that he was looking him straight in the face.

Nothing.

_C'mon, dream, damn it!_

Not even a twitch.

Naruto glanced down at his pocket.

Well, if the bastard wasn't going to dream voluntarily, he would just have to force him to.

He pulled the doll up and as he studied Sasuke's face, he gently brushed his finger down its spine.

Sasuke didn't move.

Damn it, that move gave such a good response the first time!

He tried again, harder and this time the raven actually wiggled a little bit.

Naruto let his finger wander down one of the doll's legs and smirked when Sasuke's own leg did a slight twitch.

The finger went back to the doll's spine and then brushed gently across its neck.

Sasuke rolled over to his back, tilting his head to cover the spot of his neck that Naruto had 'touched'.

Naruto was just about to run a finger down 'his' chest when suddenly Sasuke spoke, his eyes still closed.

"Dobe, stop poking me."

Naruto froze and then quickly shoved the doll back into his pocket, his mind frantically at work with coming up with a good excuse.

"Eh... I was..."

_Damn it, damn it, damn it!_

"It's your turn to take the watch." He managed to stutter out.

Sasuke peered an eye open and then sat up, stretching out his back.

"All right."

Naruto nodded and then quickly went back to his own bedroll, mentally cursing at himself.

He had forgotten about Sasuke's neck.

That cursed seal of his, for some reason, made it extremely sensitive to touch.

Naruto had learned that when he had accidentally cut it with a kunai during training once. Sasuke had fallen to his knees, clutching the mark and Naruto had been sure that the guy was going to faint on the spot.

It was a golden rule; Sasuke's seal was forbidden territory.

He had slipped up.

_Damn it._

He rolled into his blanket and stared up at the sky, determination settling in his chest.

He was going to find out who the girl was. The reward would be far too sweet to miss out on.

Naruto had found his ultimate revenge, and he was not about to let go just because of one little mistake.

_You just wait, Teme..._

* * *

**Okay, so there were no smexy situations in this chapter, but I PROMISE that there will be in the next one!**

**Please leave me a review before you leave, I worked kind of hard on this chapter, so a little comment would be nice...**

**Until next time! _-waves-_**

* * *


	5. The Definitions of Torture

**Okay, first off, I'm really sorry that the update took so long, but OMG I think I've found a boyfriend!**

**Squee, I'm so happy! And he's sooo HOT! **

**I mean, seriously, how do you expect me to stay put at the computer when a hottie like him is lying in my bed??**

**Anyway, I hope you'll like this chapter, and don't forget to review when you're done, okay?**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – The Definitions of Torture**

The next morning passed without any extraordinary events. Naruto was acting grumpy, walking in deep thought with a scowl and Sasuke was being his usual, unsocial self.

Naruto's mind was struggling to come up with a way to reveal the name of the mystery-girl, but so far he had come up with nothing.

Eventually, he decided to do what he knew he did best: A frontal attack.

"So, sweet dreams last night or what?"

Sasuke sharply turned his head at him with a suspicious glare.

"What?"

Naruto casually threw his arms behind his head and looked up at the sky.

"Well, judging by the way you were sounding, you seemed to be dreaming about something very interesting."

"I didn't dream." Sasuke snapped, perhaps a bit too sharp and Naruto grinned at him.

"Oh, I believe you did. I believe you dreamed a hell of a lot."

He sent a calculating look at the raven, judging that he had once again managed to mentally corner the stoic teen.

"So..." he nudged Sasuke in the side with his elbow. "Who is it?"

Sasuke immediately slapped his arm away with a snort.

"Who is what?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Teme. I wanna know who it is that makes you all squirm-ish and moan-ish at night."

Naruto noted with a mental snicker how his words made impact on his team mate. Sasuke's face paled somewhat and the speed of his steps picked up.

"C'mon Sasuke! We're buddies; we're supposed to be sharing stuff like this!" He threw his arm around the Uchiha's neck, ignoring the tension this caused to the other teen's shoulders.

"I mean, like, if I had a crush on someone I would tell you."

Sasuke ducked away from the blonde's embrace and brushed his shoulder off as if it had gotten dirty by the touch.

"I don't give a damn about your love-life, Dobe. And for your information, there is no crush. Your imagining things, as usual."

Naruto just smirked.

"Oh, so the loud panting and breathless moans I heard last night was just my imagination?"

He closed his eyes and moaned loudly while dragging his own hands trough his hair and down his chest in a 'I'm-having-a-wet-dream-about-the-crush-of-my-life-kind-of-manner'. Sasuke's eyes widened and stared at him, but when Naruto peered an eye open to look at him he quickly turned away, blushing madly.

"Usuratonkachi." He sputtered out and started walking down the road even faster. Naruto burst out in a fit of laughter at the sight and hurried after him.

"All right, I'm sorry!" he said, still laughing. "But c'mon, who is it?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"What's the first letter of the name?" Naruto enquired.

Sasuke's jaw line clenched and his eyes resolutely locked onto the road ahead of him.

Naruto sighed and threw his arms behind his head again.

"Fine, I'll just go through the entire alphabet then. Is it an A?"

"I'm not going to answer any of your stupid questions, Dobe."

"Is it B?"

"Dobe."

"C?"

"I'm warning you."

"All right, how about D?"

"Naruto...!"

"Fine, fine! Jeez..."

They kept walking for about three minutes in complete silence and then...

"Is it E?"

"Oh, for the...!"

"Ow! F then??"

* * *

Two hours later they reached a small village where they decided to stop for lunch before continuing. As they walked into the small diner, Naruto was still rubbing at an impressive dint at the back of his head with a grimace. He had earned that one an hour earlier when he had gotten to the letter "N" and Sasuke had given him a punch in the head. A hard punch.

Damn it, he was being touchy about this.

They sat down and soon enough an old lady came up and gave them their menus and left again.

Naruto already knew what he was going to order; it was simple since the word 'ramen' was printed in a section of its own on the menu. Instead he glanced over at Sasuke over the top of the pages, trying to come up with a new strategy.

His line of thought was simple, but then since we're talking about Uzumaki Naruto, when where they not?

Mission: Find out the identity of Sasuke's crush.

Game plan: Nag the bastard about it until he gives up, otherwise, beat the crap out of him until he confesses.

Simple.

With the help from a certain voodoo-doll of course.

The lady came back and got their orders and disappeared again.

Naruto kept looking at Sasuke openly, coaxing him to start a conversation, even though he knew it would probably be with an insult.

After a couple of minutes trying to pretend that the blonde didn't exist, Sasuke finally turned towards him. But instead of the glare Naruto had been expecting, Sasuke smirked at him.

"See something you like, Dobe?"

"Is it Z?"  
_Pop goes the Sasuke..._

"I thought I told you to knock that off?" Sasuke gritted out with a terminating glare, which by the way, didn't phase Naruto one bit.

"I will when you answer." He glared back.

"Do you _want_ to get a Chidori through your head?"

"Fine, I'll stop with the alphabet. There's no more letters anyway."

"Good."

Their food arrived and Naruto noticed with a confused mental frown that Sasuke too had ordered ramen. Was he torturing himself this week or something?

They stared eating, and to no ones surprise, Naruto had finished his bowl almost before Sasuke had gotten too snapping his chopsticks in two.

Now, Naruto was hungry, though that wasn't the only reason why the ramen had disappeared so quickly.

The fact was that this action left him with a full opportunity to pump Sasuke for information, and the bastard wouldn't be able to walk away until he had finished eating.

"Is it a redhead?"

The nerve underneath Sasuke's right eye twitched slightly, but he kept on eating without answering.

"A brunet?"

Another twitch.

"Black hair then?"

"If you don't shut up, I'll take you outside and bury you in the nearest hole I can find, Dobe."

"Is it a blonde?"

Sasuke's shoulders tensed and one of his chopsticks cracked when the grip around it tightened.

"I knew it!" Naruto called out victoriously. "It _is_ a blonde, isn't it?"

"No."

"Yes it is! It's a blonde!"

Then his grin suddenly faded and he stared as if terrified at Sasuke.

Sasuke's mouth instantly went dry.

"Sasuke... you...?"

_Oh shit._

"Is it... Are you... With Ino?"

_Oh shi... wait._

"What?!" Sasuke choked on his own breath and stared in horror at the other boy. "_Ino_?!"

"What, she's a blonde!" Naruto insisted.

"I know she is, but she's not the only freaking blonde in Konoha now is she?!" Sasuke glared at him. Him and _Ino_? Had the Dobe lost it completely?!

Naruto's shocked expression suddenly disappeared and instead a victorious grin spread across his face.

"So, it _is_ a blonde?"

_Fuck._

"I never said that." Sasuke quickly objected.

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

The grin grew wider, making Sasuke cringe inside.

"Sasuke's in love with a blo-onde." Naruto chirped in a sing-song voice and fluttered his eyelashes flirtatiously.

"I am not in love with anyone."

"Sasuke is in _lo-ove_."

"No. I. Am. _Not_."

"Sasuke's in lo-_gack_!"

Suddenly Sasuke's hand grabbed hold of Naruto's collar and yanked him forward and down, slamming his upper body into the table so hard the tableware shook.

"I. Am not. In love. With _anyone_. Got it?" He hissed angrily and Naruto gulped when he saw a hint of red flash in those black eyes.

"Got it."

"Perfect."

He let go of Naruto's collar and returned to his food with a final glare.

Naruto brushed his jacket off with a huff, but inside he was doing a small victory-dance.

Sasuke had slipped up, and the bastard knew it.

So, the girl was blonde and lived in Konoha. That was a good starting point. And no, Naruto did not for one second believe that it was Ino. Sasuke hated everything about her, openly, had always hated her.

Hmm... What other blonde's did he know in Konoha?

It wasn't a very common hair colour... He only knew of Ino... And of course Tsunade baa-chan, but...

He shuddered.

Sasuke was odd, sure, but he wasn't _that_ odd...

Temari? No, she wasn't from Konoha. And Naruto was pretty sure that she had already set her aim on Shikamaru by now, though said chuunin didn't seem to be very participant...at least not yet.

Then again, it could be a girl that Naruto didn't even know. Maybe someone Sasuke met at last years jounin exams? He would have to continue with the questions then and find out if that was the case.

He vaguely wondered if he would be able to survive such an interrogation.

Sasuke would snap.

He watched his team mate from the corner of his eye.

Why couldn't the bastard just tell him who it was? It wasn't like Naruto would run off to tell anyone about it. Man, ever heard of the word 'trust'?

He sighed and rested his elbows on the table.

He was still hungry.

Looking out over the room he saw the woman from before walk out of the kitchen with an ice-cream dessert on a tray. It looked absolutely delicious and Naruto's stomach made a high-pitched, squeaky sound at the sight.

Glancing over at Sasuke again he noted that the other still had almost half of the ramen left in his bowl. He wouldn't be finished for a while.

He quickly waved the woman over and told her that he wanted the same kind of dessert that she had just given the other guest and she nodded politely and disappeared with a smile.

Sasuke gave Naruto a look before returning to his own food again.

Usually, he would point out how disgustingly unhealthy and sickening sweet that kind of stuff was, but not today.

Dobe, plus food, equals quiet Dobe, which were the same as a happy Sasuke, who thus had no intentions what so ever on commenting or complaining.

It didn't take long until the woman returned, and perhaps it was only wishful thinking, but Naruto was almost certain that his dessert looked slightly bigger than the other one's.

However, his happiness was made anyway when the woman put the plate down and he discovered what was covering the ice cream, complete with chocolate sauce.

"Whipped cream!" he exclaimed happily. "I _love_ whipped cream!"

Sasuke looked up at the sudden outburst, just in time to see Naruto dip his index finger into the white substance and put it into his mouth, leisurely sucking at it while making a loud humming sound and closing his eyes.

Now, had Naruto kept his eyes open, he would have seen a sight that he probably would never have been able to relive in is entire life.

Sasuke's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, earning his sudden pale face an incredibly comical look.

When Naruto made another loud '_Mmmm_', Sasuke swallowed hard and let out something that sounded like a mixture between a sigh and a moan, suddenly gripping his chopsticks very tightly.

Naruto didn't notice the change in his table mate's behaviour and dipped his finger in the cream a second time, this time also adding his middle finger in.

When he sucked the cream of the two digits one by one, Sasuke's other hand gripped firmly around the edge of the round table and he forced himself to look away. He wouldn't be able to watch that again, he just couldn't...

"_Mmmm_...!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth and let go of the chopsticks, hiding his face in his now free hand.

Why now? Why did this have to happen _now_?

Next to him, Naruto kept abusing his fingers, making loud suckling sounds in the process, driving Sasuke to the brink of insanity.

Not that the blonde noticed, right now it was only him and his wonderful bowl of dessert and whipped cream in the whole universe, but Sasuke sure as hell did notice.

Of all desserts, of all fucking pastries, cakes and god damn sweets in the world, it had to be something with whipped cream!

It wasn't fair!

"Would you please stop doing that?" he hissed between gritted teeth, still with his face in his hand.

"Stop doing what?" Naruto asked, absentmindedly dipping a new finger into the cream and bringing it to his mouth. Instantly, Sasuke's hand shot out and grabbed hold of his wrist and prevented him from continuing the motion.

"_That_. Stop doing _that_."

"But I'm eating!"

"Then use a spoon."

Naruto wrung his hand out of the other boy's grip and snorted.

"Just because you don't like desserts." As if proving a point, he put the finger in his mouth and sucked the cream off with a slow and studious movement.

Sasuke didn't see it, because he was still looking down at the table, but he could _hear_ it, and the images that sound brought to his mind wasn't doing anything what so ever to help him in his predicament.

He had a very strong suspicion that right now he wouldn't be able to stand up and leave the table even if his life depended on it.

His only option was to just stay put and endure the visual and audible onslaught, and at the same time keep himself from doing something that would definitely put him into an even bigger predicament than the one the Dobe had managed to develop below his waistline.

Naruto however, seemed to realise that Sasuke wasn't in the mood for playing, so he decided to minimize the volume of his ministrations and once he started focusing on actually _eating_ the dessert instead of playing with it, it didn't take long until it was completely gone and devoured.

When the last spoon of ice cream disappeared down his throat, Sasuke's tensed posture suddenly relaxed and he let out something that could only be described as a relieved sigh as slumped down on his elbows.

Naruto never understood why Sasuke always seemed to be so rigid and stiff whenever they went to a restaurant, but perhaps it was just one of those things he had going on. Naruto didn't understand it and he sure as hell wasn't going to try anytime soon.

"There, I'm done!" he proclaimed and leaned back into his own seat as well with a content sigh.

"Finally."

"Hey, it didn't take that long!"

"Hn."

"All right, I'll pay for us both, are you happy then?"

Naruto placed the money on the table and pushed his chair out, expecting Sasuke to do the same and get up so that they could get going, but instead he just sat there, still staring down at the table.

Naruto poked him on the shoulder, but didn't get any response so instead he stood up by himself and grabbed hold of his backpack.

"Oi, Sasuke. Are we going or what?"

Still no answer.

"Hey, Teme! I'm talking to you."

"Not yet."

"What do you mean 'not yet'? We've got a deadline remember? Let's get going."

"I said; Not. Yet."

"So, you're just going to sit there all day admiring the view of that old table, or what?"

Again, Sasuke didn't answer.

He was breathing deeply, as if he was trying to calm himself down and Naruto felt a little victorious thought bubble up within him.

_Man, I must have found a really good way to push his buttons today. He's clearly pissed off!_

_Maybe one more little push will be enough to make the bastard get up from that chair and get a move on?_

He leisurely walked around the table so that he ended up behind Sasuke, giving the impression that he was heading for the door.

Now, Naruto had spent his past ten minutes, holding onto a ceramic bowl filled to the brim with ice cream, which had resulted in a pair of icy cold hands. A pair of hands which he now quickly shoved underneath the back of Sasuke's collar and shirt and ruthlessly pressed against his back.

Sasuke gasped sharply and stiffened like a stick, and Naruto could feel every single muscle along his spine go rigid.

"So, are you coming?" he asked sweetly and wiggled his fingers slightly, enjoying the violent tremor that went through Sasuke's body when the cold digits made contact with his skin.

"Dobe." He hissed out.

"Whaaaat?" Naruto answered with faked curiousness.

"Start running."

There was something in his voice that immediately made Naruto remove his hands and take a step back.

"Now, wait a minute, I was just kidding."

Sasuke glared over his shoulder at him.

"You're not running." He pointed out and stood up, but suddenly Naruto wanted him to keep sitting.

"B-but hey! You asked for it!"

"I'm going to count to three."

Sasuke took a step forward and Naruto quickly stepped back

"One."

"Sasuke!"

_- Step - _

_- Step -_

"Two."

_- Step - _

"C'mon, where's your sense of humour?!"

Naruto stepped back again and prepared to turn and bolt out of the restaurant when suddenly his entire world got turned upside down when his foot got entangled in a chair that someone had left pulled out and he fell.

Ninja or no Ninja, Uzumaki Naruto was first and most a human being, and there were certain reflexes that he simply never would be able to train away. Like in this situation, the reflex to reach out and grab something to prevent the fall.

Unfortunately, for whom to be left unsaid, the closest object and first thing his grappling hands got hold of, was Sasuke.

Sasuke was not even the slightest prepared when Naruto's hand suddenly closed around his arm and before he even got time to register what was happening and what it would lead to, he got yanked forward and fell.

Unable to brace their fall, the two boys landed on each other with two loud _–ouff-'s_, knocking the air out of both of their lungs. Sasuke was cushioned a bit by Naruto's body, but Naruto hit the floor butt first, followed closely by his head which connected with the floor-boards with a loud bang that echoed through his skull.

Sasuke groaned and propped himself up on his elbows and then reached up to rub at his chest where Naruto's arm had hit him during the fall.

It took a couple of seconds, but when Naruto groaned next to his left ear, Sasuke realized who he was topping and froze.

Naruto raised his hand to rub at the back of his head, but found that there was something weighing his arm down. He tilted his head to look down but found himself staring into a whirl of black hair instead.

Slowly reality kicked in and he realised what he had done.

He tried to crawl away, but the pain that shot up through his body from the sudden movement made him halt.

Sasuke wasn't looking at him. He was staring down at the front of Naruto's jumpsuit, but somehow it seemed as if he didn't really see it.

"Sasuke, I... I didn't... It was an accident!"

Naruto was sure that he was going to die. He was as good as dead.

He could feel the eyes from the other guests on them and then the knowledge that he had now embarrassed Sasuke in public hit him like a sledgehammer.

There was no Voodoo doll to hide behind this time. He was going to die.

Slowly Sasuke raised his head and looked at him.

His expression was completely blank, giving away nothing about the panic he was experiencing at the moment.

He could feel Naruto's left hand press against his upper thigh and he realised that he was preventing him from moving it away with his own body weight.

And still he couldn't bring himself to move.

His heart was banging away inside his chest; he was positive that Naruto could hear it all the way thought the jounin-vest he was wearing.

What was he supposed to do? Why didn't Naruto say anything?

Why didn't he _do_ anything?

_Do something!_

_Scream at me, tell me to get off, do anything!_

But the blonde didn't.

He just laid there, looking at him and Sasuke couldn't bring himself to look away.

Blue filled up his vision, his mind, cut of his breathing, prevented him from thinking rationally or even move.

Time stood still, hours passed in the space between blue and black.

Naruto had no idea how long they stayed like that. He didn't dare to look away and he sure as hell didn't dare to move. There was something about Sasuke's eyes that kept him from it.

Then Sasuke blinked. Once, twice and then he slowly got to his knees and stood up.

Without a word he then reached out his hand towards Naruto, a silent offering to help him up.

Naruto stared at the hand, not quite realising what he was supposed to do with it until seconds later.

He grabbed it and pulled himself up, trying not to groan when a new wave of pain shot up from his tail bone and up his spine.

Once he was up and standing, Sasuke let go of his hand and grabbed his own backpack from beside the table and then he walked straight passed his team mate and out the door.

Naruto stared after him, not sure about what just happened.

Then he sheepishly looked around the room at the other guests who was still staring at him.

Another of his reflexes kicked in and his hand shot up and rubbed at the back of his neck nervously as an embarrassed grin formed on his lips.

"Eh... Sorry for making a mess. We're... we're leaving now."

And with that, he hurriedly limped out of the diner and after his disappearing team mate.

* * *

At nightfall they were once again staying outdoors in the woods. The summer was warm so the temperature didn't drop that much during the night hours. It was actually quite pleasant.

Sasuke still hadn't spoken and when they unpacked their bedrolls he just laid down, turned his back against Naruto and basically disappeared underneath his blanket.

"Hey, Sasuke, aren't we going to eat anything?"

"Not hungry." Came the monotone answer from inside the rough fabric.

"Not you, but what about me? You want me to starve or what?"

He angrily glared at the blanket, but the blanket ignored him, as did his team mate.

"Hey, I asked you a question, Teme!"

Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets and stomped up and gave the human burrito a kick with his foot, which caused said burrito to sit up and glare at him.

"What is your problem?" he snorted.

"_My_ problem?!" Naruto hollered. "What is _your_ problem?! You've been all bitchy ever since we left that diner. Did you get a fork shoved up your ass back there or what?"

That certainly got his attention, because suddenly Sasuke was standing again and Naruto took a quick step back. He barely had time to register the fist that came flying towards his head before it connected with his right temple.

It didn't hit hard, probably because Sasuke wasn't seriously aiming to harm him, but god damn it, it _hurt_!

Naruto opened his mouth to yell at him and tell him what a stuck up asshole he was to hit him just because of something like that, but he shut it again when he saw the shocked expression on Sasuke's face.

Sasuke was staring at his own hand as if he wondered what the hell it was doing at the end of his arm. Then he stared at Naruto and back to the hand again, still with the same dumbfounded expression.

Then it clicked and Naruto hastily pulled his hands up from his pockets and Sasuke's arm slowly lowered itself again.

When Sasuke had stood up, Naruto had taken a step back and accidentally knocked the voodoo-doll's arm which in turn had caused Sasuke's own arm to fly out and hit him in the head. And judging by the way Sasuke looked at the moment, he obviously had no idea what the hell just happened.

"Naruto... I don't know why I... I didn't..."

Sasuke was actually stuttering and he was staring from Naruto to his hand as if he was afraid that it would form into a new fist and attack his team mate again.

"I- I didn't do it on purpose, I swear."

"It's okay." Naruto was completely taken of guard by the sudden remorse Sasuke was showing. Usually Sasuke just snorted or 'hn'ed when they had a fight over something, but then again, the fights had actually been intentional then. Right now, Naruto couldn't help to feel a bit sorry for him.

"It's okay. Really." He repeated again, since Sasuke didn't show any signs of that he had heard him the first time.

"I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." He laughed sheepishly. "I can do food on my own, it's okay."

"No."

Naruto looked up at Sasuke who was now looking down at the ground in front of him.

"I can make food for both of us. I was just in a bad mood before, that's all."

Then he turned around and bent down over his backpack and began unpacking the saucepan and their food bags.

Naruto didn't know what to say. During all the years he had known Sasuke, that was probably the closest thing to an apologise that he had ever heard cross the other boy's lips.

It was almost embarrassing.

"I'll get the fire started." He offered and quickly stalked off to find some fire wood.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and watched as the orange jumpsuit disappeared between the trees. Then he looked down at his hand again, shook his head dismissively and returned to the food.

* * *

The food was eaten, the dishes made and the fire was burning and crackling mirthfully, sending a small pillar of smoke up against the star covered sky.

Naruto laid down on his bedroll with his arms behind his head and watched the starts twinkle above him and sighed contently.

Sasuke glanced at him.

"You seem happy, Dobe."

"Their just so pretty."

Sasuke hinged a brow at him.

"Who?"

"The stars." He raised his arm and pointed up at the sky.

"That one right there is my favourite."

Sasuke followed Naruto's finger with a sceptical look.

"You expect me to see which one you're talking about just by pointing up at the sky?"

"All right, all right."

Naruto got up and walked over and flopped down next to Sasuke.

"That bright one right there." He pointed again and leaned his body closer to the raven in order for Sasuke to share his visual angle. "The one right next to that treetop over there. Do you see it?"

"Yeah, I think so."

As a matter of fact, Naruto could have pointed right down at the ground and asked him if he saw it, because Sasuke didn't give a flying fuck about any stars at that moment.

He could feel Naruto's breath against his cheek and how their arms barely touched when he leaned closer to him and both things sent a tingling sensation through his entire body.

Why the hell did it have to be Naruto? Of all the people in the world, why Naruto?

Of course, the moron was completely oblivious to the emotional struggle his friend was having with himself next to him, because he just smiled and leaned back on his elbows and sighed again.

They were quiet for a while, Naruto watching the stars from the ground and Sasuke watching Naruto from the corner of his eye.

After a while Naruto stretched out and laid down flat on his back with a thoughtful look on his face.

"You know, this is exactly the kind of romantic night-skies they have in the movies."

"Don't even start."

"Huh?" Naruto tore his eyes away from the sky and looked at Sasuke who was suddenly glaring at him.

"I said don't even start. I'm not going to tell you anything anyway."

"Actually I wasn't thinking about that."

"Good."

Naruto rolled over on his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows, facing his friend.

"But, c'mon , honestly. Why won't you tell me who it is?"

"Because it's none of your business."

"But I mean, it's not like I'm going to tell anyone about it. It'll be out secret, I swear."

Sasuke shook his head.

"No."

Naruto pouted and gave him a sour look which only earned him a light slap across the back of his head and a smirk from Sasuke.

"But you admit that there _is_ someone at least?" he insisted.

Sasuke sighed and tilted his head back in frustration.

"Fine. Yes, there is someone, I confess. Now will you shut up about it?"

"Now, hold on! We're did you meet each other? Was it on a mission? Or at the jounin exams? Sasuke, please, cut me some slack here!"

"I told you that I won't tell you anything."

"But we're _buddies_! We're supposed to entrust each other's lives to one another, but you refuse to entrust me with something as simple as who you've got a crush on?"

"I don't believe in crushes." Sasuke snorted.

A light instantly twinkled in Naruto's eyes and he sat up.

"You mean that this is the real deal? As in '_The One_'? Your Soul-mate? Your Long Lost Other Half and all that stuff?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"I suppose."

"Suppose? If it's not a crush then it must be."

"Whatever you say."

"Oh, don't give me the fridge-treatment, Sasuke, you know it doesn't work. So, when are you going to confess to this love of yours?"

"I'm not."

Naruto grinned at him.

"What, are you being a chicken?"

This time he dodged the hit against his head and grinned even wider.

"You are! The great Uchiha Sasuke is being a scaredy-cat."

"I'm not being a scaredy-cat. It's just... complicated."

"Yeah, yeah, sounds like a bunch of whitewash to me."

"Hn, whatever."

Now there was the Sasuke he knew. Acting all high and mighty even though he knew he had been seen through already. Although, with that attitude back, this also meant that he wouldn't get any further with this discussion tonight.

He sighed, stood up and went back to his own bedroll.

"Do we need to keep watch or should we just go to sleep?"

Sasuke looked around and shrugged.

"I doubt that we'll get attacked by anyone. This isn't exactly a much travelled road, so robbers and thieves is pretty much none-existent here."

Naruto yawned and crawled down underneath his blanket.

"Great, then we can get a full night's sleep tonight at least."

Sasuke nodded and laid down on his own bedroll as well.

Naruto yawned again and turned his back against the fire and snuggled up into an orange, human ball.

"'Night Sasuke."

"Hn."

Naruto smirked at the answer and looked down at the voodoo-doll that was resting in the palm of his hand.

"Sweet dreams..." he murmured and closed his eyes, listening to the hushed sounds of Sasuke's breathing.

Waiting...

* * *

Naruto snapped his eyes open.

He had almost fallen asleep, but his senses had still somehow managed to detect the muffled sound that had come drifting from Sasuke's bedroll.

He laid absolutely still and tried to breathe as quietly as possible in order to hear what was going on at the other side of the glade where his team mate was sleeping and he almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the sound again.

A groan, almost inaudible, and the soft ruffle of fabric against fabric when Sasuke shifted in his sleep.

This was it. He was dreaming, finally.

Naruto sat up and quietly sneaked over and looked down upon the sleeping jounin.

Sasuke had removed his vest before going to sleep, so he was now only wearing his slim black sweater and black trousers.

It wasn't anything special or extraordinary about it at all, that's what he usually slept in during their missions, but something that was indeed different was the position he was in.

Usually, Sasuke always slept on his side, resting his head on his arm and that's also the position he always woke up in.

Right now, however, he was lying flat on his back, with his arms and legs sprawled out like some kind of deformed X, with his left arm thrown up above his head.

As Naruto watched him, he turned his head from one side to the other and once again that peculiar sound erupted from his lips.

Naruto's heart was beating nervously inside his chest when he pulled out the voodoo-doll from it's place in his pocket and held it up in front of him.

He moisturised his lips with his tongue and took a deep breath.

"Okay... Here it goes..."

Slowly, and feathery light he ran the tip of his index finger down the doll's spine, just like last time.

Sasuke's breath hitched and his mouth opened up in a low gasp.

Naruto removed the finger and watched for any signs of that his action was waking Sasuke up. He couldn't afford such a mistake a second time.

When Sasuke once again was still, Naruto repeated the action, only this time he ran the finger up again as well.

Sasuke tossed his head sharply to the left and this time the gasp was absolutely audible.

Naruto's mouth had gone dry and the adrenaline was rushing through his system like some kind of weird drug.

He knew that what he was about to do next was going against all rules of what was allowed, even between the best of friends, but he had already decided.

He swallowed hard and raised his hand to the doll once again, doing a light massaging movement against the stomach, moving down, but as soon as his finger made contact with the plush fabric, Sasuke did a drowsy giggle and began squirming underneath the blanket.

Naruto quickly removed his hand and Sasuke came to a rest once again.

_Oops. I forgot about that part._

He groaned mentally. He had planned on doing this in steps, like, getting used to the thought gradually, but apparently that wouldn't work.

_Alright, Naruto, you can do this. Just... pretend that you're polishing a kunai or something._

With that mental pep talk he then placed the tip of his finger against the doll's groin and did a small, rubbing movement against it.

Sasuke's brow furrowed for a moment but then he suddenly shuddered violently and moaned in his sleep.

That sound was completely new to Naruto. It was a sound that he had never thought, or even thought about wanting to hear, but now that he had, he realised that he actually found it quite pleasing.

After all, if he couldn't bring the bastard to do that sound, what kind of a wet dream would this be?

Encouraged by the other boy's reaction he repeated the movement again and again, noticing how Sasuke's breathing became increasingly shallow and how more moans and breathless gasps escaped his mouth.

The butterflies in his stomach had started to do some kind of weird looping-movement that somehow managed to send shivers through his entire body. His hands were actually trembling.

He stopped for a moment to gather himself from the adrenaline-rush. He had to focus damn it, focus!

"No..."

Naruto froze.

Sasuke's voice was drowsy and thick with sleep, but the words were spoken clearly.

Was he awake? Naruto barely had the courage to look, but when he did, he found that Sasuke's eyes were still tightly shut.

"Please... Don't stop..."

Was he really asleep? Or was he talking to the person in his dream?

Anyway, he was talking, that much was for sure. Maybe he could use this to his advantage?

He leaned in closer and placed his lips right next to Sasuke's head.

"Why not, Sasuke?"

"Feels... so good...ah!"

Naruto quickly pulled away when Sasuke's head did a new throw to the side, but this also gave him the knowledge he needed.

Sasuke was asleep. That last moan had clearly been caused by something in his dream and not something Naruto had done.

Naruto let his finger resume the work against the doll's groin, at the same time as he kept his eyes locked on the sleeping boy in front of him.

Suddenly he started to feel slightly adventurous. Sasuke was deep asleep; he wasn't going to wake up unless Naruto screwed up real good.

If he played his cards right now...

"What do you want me to do, Sasuke?"

He emphasized the question with a slightly harder rub against the doll, causing Sasuke's hips to do a violent buck followed by a loud moan.

"Do you want me to make you feel good?"

"Yes... oh yes..."

Sasuke's words were panted out, hardly more than breathed out syllables, but the point was evident. He was on the brink already and Naruto was quite sure that all he needed was a little more encouragement to get pushed over the edge.

"I'll make you feel good, Sasuke-baby." He almost laughed at the quickly made up pet-name, but he immediately became serious again. He had to stay in character.

"I'll make you feel good, but only if you do a little something for me."

"Any-ah... Anything..."

Sasuke was squirming even more violently now, obviously longing for the promised release, but Naruto kept him waiting, halting his movements completely.

He leaned down and placed his mouth by his ear again, so close that his lips almost touched the shell of the ear and whispered as seductively as he could muster;

"I want you to call out my name when you cum for me."

Sasuke groaned and clenched his teeth together.

"Would you do that for me? Sasuke-baby?"

Sasuke was clearly hesitating, and Naruto suspected that it was the Uchiha-pride taking out it's toll inside that dream-world of his.

"It'll be worth it. I promise."

He let his finger grace against the doll and Sasuke whimpered at the touch.

Hearing the great Uchiha Sasuke doing such a thing as whimper was so captivating that he just had to do it a second time. It was a shame he couldn't share this with anyone. Oh, the laughs!

Who knew that doing sexual torture to once team mate could be so much fun?

Sasuke's breath started to grow rapid again, and Naruto saw how one of his hands started to travel down his side against the evident bulge underneath the blanket.

He quickly grabbed hold of the doll's hand and Sasuke's hand went still.

"Uh-uh, Sasuke." He scolded tauntingly. "Don't go do anything silly now."

Sasuke groaned and threw his head back, clearly frustrated.

"You're being a bitch as always." He hissed.

_A bitch? Well that's a way to address your girlfriend. But hey, if he like's to talk dirty..._

"I'm only a bitch when it comes to bastards like you."

The faint smirk that appeared at the corner of Sasuke's mouth proved him to be right.

The Uchiha's into kink. Why wasn't he surprised?

"Now, do like I say, and I promise I'll give you the ride of a lifetime."

He began working the doll in a quick pace, keeping the touches light, though he knew that he wouldn't be able to put it off any longer.

"Scream for me, Sasuke."

Sasuke's trapped hand grappled the blanket, almost tugging at it desperately.

"I...oh fuck..."

"Sasuke."

"You're... I'm..."

Sasuke was trembling now, his entire body twitching as his breath started to go rigid and irregular.

Naruto leaned in closer again and as he increased the pressure on the doll, he smirked victoriously against Sasuke's ear.

"Cum for me... Sasuke-baby."

"Na-ah!"

Sasuke's body tensed and he let out a loud moan that seemed to echo through the glade they were in, before a sharp twitch shook his frame and he slumped down against the bedroll again.

Naruto watched as his breathing went back to normal again, anxiously waiting for what was going to happen next.

Then after a while, Sasuke abruptly turned over to the side and rested his head on his arm, let out a deep sigh and went still.

Naruto stared at him in confusion and then it dawned on him.

_Damn it!_

* * *

_**Yes, I know, he didn't find out. **_

_**C'mon, did you really think it was going to be that easy??**_

**_Oh no, I've got more in store for those two, so Sasuke's going to keep his secret for a little while longer..._**

**_Hope you liked this chapter, and I'll try my best to update ASAP, I promise!_**

**_And, oh yeah, I almost forgot... REVIEW PLEASE!! _**

* * *


	6. He said He said

**Chapter 6 – He said.../He said...**

Before Sasuke even opened his eyes, he knew that something had happened.

Something that under no circumstances was ever allowed to happen during a mission.

Especially during _this_ particular mission!

First off, he wasn't lying in the position he was supposed to. Instead he was laid sprawled on his back with his arms and legs spread out like some kind of a discarded dummy.

Now, in Mission-Sasuke's world, that was considered a bad thing.

He didn't even have to check to see what had happened.

Holding back a groan he slowly opened his eyes and glanced over to Naruto's bedroll on the other side of camp where he found to his relief that the dobe was still heavy asleep.

Carefully getting up, he started rummaging through his backpack for a change of clothes before he quickly went into the forest in search for a stream or something to wash off in before changing.

He soon found a creek with a small waterfall that came streaming out from an opening in a rock formation, gathering into a small pond by its base.

The water was ice-cold, but Sasuke still splashed a generous amount of it in his face and hair before moving on to the even more unpleasant task of washing off his body.

By the time he was finished his skin had almost turned numb from the cold and he quickly put on the new clothes before he gathered up the old ones and rolled them into a bunch.

Throughout the entire procedure bits and pieces of the night's somewhat... provocative dream started to make their way back into his memory.

He and Naruto had been somewhere doing... something. And then Naruto had... Naruto had...

_Stop it!_

He resolutely splashed some more water in his face and stared down onto the rippled surface of the pond.

_Just... stop thinking about it._

He watched as the water returned into its clear state and met the glare from his own reflection.

_Focus, damn it!_

He was an Uchiha! A bit of self-restraint here, please?

The reflection stared back at him, and he sighed in frustration.

Right now, self-restraint wasn't exactly the thing he packed most of.

That dream had felt so real. He could have sworn that for just a moment...

However, right now wasn't the time for his body to give in on him like this. Not with Naruto snooping around like he was.

Why had he gotten so curious about Sasuke's love-life all of a sudden anyway?!

Things were hard enough as they were without his infinite questions, puns and...

_Touches?_

The thought came unwanted, of course, but it was enough to make Sasuke's heart speed up a notch or two.

Naruto _had_ been a bit more touchy then usual. Like that thing at the restaurant when he had shoved his hands under Sasuke's shirt. What was that all about?

And then of course there was the sparring incident...

When Naruto all of a sudden had leaned forward and whispered into his ear while swirling his finger against his neck Sasuke thought his heart was going to stop.

Of course that mood had quickly disappeared when the moron found out that he was ticklish...

Sasuke pulled his hands through his damp hair and sighed again.

He couldn't take much more of this. The dobe's presence only made his imagination go on a stampede and trigger his hormones. The dream last night was surely caused by the stuff that had happened yesterday, Sasuke was sure of it.

They had to complete this mission fast, or things could end up badly.

Naruto had said that Sasuke talked in his sleep. He didn't even want to think about what could happen if he started sleepwalking or something as well...

Asking Naruto to gag him and tie him up each night would probably be a very weird thing to do...

...

_**-splash-**_

_Damn it, stop thinking about it!_

--

--

Naruto woke up and stretched out on his bedroll with a content sigh before looking over at Sasuke's bedroll.

He wasn't that surprised to see that it was empty and sniggered to himself.

_Probably off to get rid of the evidence._

He laid back again and looked up at the sky with another, more depressive sigh.

Last night had been a complete failure.

Despite Sasuke talking (among other things) in his sleep, Naruto hadn't found out anything that he didn't know before.

If only the bastard hadn't been so stubborn he would have said it.

It was so typical.

Now, here he was with a molested voodoo doll and a sexually satisfied team mate.

"Tch, I hope the bastard at least had the decency to enjoy that dream I gave him." He grumbled. He glanced over to the empty bedroll again and felt a sting of... _something_ course through his body and settle somewhere near his stomach.

He had molested his own team mate!

Well, not physically, not really, but _still_...

That was just wrong!

Fun, sure, but... wrong!

And for what? Nothing!

This was all Sasuke's fault! If he hadn't been so... Sasuke-ish, Naruto wouldn't have had to do that stuff in the first place, and then he wouldn't have to feel so guilty about it!

But, noooooo, the bastard just had to keep his little secrets to himself.

It was just a girl for crying out loud! A girl that Naruto didn't even know and a name that he probably had never heard!

What was the big deal?!

Like it would matter if Naruto found out...

He was about to go on with his mental rant, but at the same moment, Sasuke stepped out into the glade.

He stopped for a split second when he saw that Naruto was awake, but then he continued on his way to his bedroll with a snort.

"Good morning."

Naruto scowled and sat up, leaning on his elbow and looked at the raven.

What was that?

Sasuke _never_ said good morning!

He watched the raven sit down and hurriedly star to tare the content of his backpack out and his eyes fell on a bundle of clothes that the Uchiha studiously tried to keep out of sight.

Naruto grinned and laid back down resting his head on his arm.

"So... Slept well last night?"

Sasuke stiffened and the bundle of clothes quickly disappeared into the backpack.

"I suppose. Why?"

Naruto's grin widened.

He had suddenly gotten an idea. A very good and very _evil_ idea.

"Just curious." He rolled over to his back and watched Sasuke as he began repacking his stuff.

"It just sounded like you had a good time." He added casually.

Sasuke's hands froze and he quickly spun around, glaring suspiciously.

"And what do you mean by that?" he snarled.

Naruto smirked and then closed his eyes, parted his lips and let out a low, needy moan.

"No...!" he panted out, in an exact imitation of Sasuke from the night before.

"Please... Don't stop..."

All colour immediately disappeared from Sasuke's face and Naruto opened one of his eyes to look at him.

"Does that sound like a bad dream to you?"

Sasuke made some kind of choked sound in the back of his throat and then he quickly turned around to his bedroll, his face beaming with crimson.

Naruto held back a new snigger and turned his eyes to the sky.

"You know... I should have been able to figure it out sooner..."

"Figure what out?" Sasuke answered sourly, obviously still blushing like a tomato.

Naruto smiled.

"Who you're in love with. It's been so obvious I'm almost ashamed of myself."

--

--

Sasuke's heart stopped.

No.

Not like that. That was NOT the way he was supposed to find out!

He swallowed hard, his heart resuming to thump wildly in his chest.

"So you've figured it out then?" he said in the most non-caring voice he could muster.

"Oh, I didn't have to figure it out. You said it loud and clear."

"I did?"

_No, no, no, no, no!_

"Oh yes, I mean, why do you think I woke up in the first place? I though someone was attacking us or something the way you went on."

Sasuke choked on his own breath once again.

This wasn't happening! It couldn't be happening!

Behind him he could hear Naruto shift on his bedroll, but he couldn't bring himself to turn around.

"I must say that I'm quite surprised by you, Sasuke. All this time that you were hiding it from me, acting like nothing..."

Sasuke absentmindedly started to fidget with his stuff, shoving them back into his backpack without any particular organisation, trying his best to breathe evenly.

Naruto was going to freak on him! This couldn't possibly get any worse, there was just no way!

"I don't really understand what the fuzz was all about though."

_See, there was no way that he was jus going to accept... What?_

"You don't?"

"No, not really. I mean, sure I was a bit surprised when I found out, but hey, if that's the way you feel..."

Sasuke's world was spinning. He _knew_ and... he wasn't about to go on a rampage?

"You're... okay with it?" he asked slowly, feeling his heartbeat ring in his ears.

"Sure. Why would I mind?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and met Naruto's confused look.

"I..."

"Whatever, I just thought I might tell you that I know. Save you from the trouble of trying to keep it a secret and all."

Naruto sat up and started to pack up his own stuff.

"So, we're delivering the parcel today, huh? I can't wait to see what's in it."

Sasuke just stared at the blonde, waiting for the obvious dream he was having to come to an end.

Naruto knew.

And was cool about it.

Completely cool.

As a matter of fact, maybe a little bit _too_ cool.

Was he in shock? Like, so disgusted that he was just going to pretend it didn't happen?

It was a possibility.

But Naruto wasn't exactly the type to go into quiet-mode on a steady basis. If he was shocked he usually settled with yelling and waving his arms around a lot.

And pointing. Yes, a Naruto-rampage always involved a heavy amount of pointing.

There was no pointing here.

No yelling, no waving. No pointing.

What was going on?

--

--

Naruto sniggered to himself when he shoved his bedroll into his backpack.

The bastard had swallowed it all, hook, line and sinker.

If he just played on, pretending that he really knew who the mystery-girl was, Sasuke would eventually start talking. Just a few, well-posed questions and he would have the name in no time!

Sasuke seemed a bit taken by the sudden change in his attitude, but soon he too returned to the cleaning of the camp.

It didn't take long before they were all packed and ready to go and less than an hour after Naruto had woken up they were heading down the road they had been following yesterday.

Sasuke kept giving him weird glances, as if he was waiting for Naruto to say something, but Naruto just walked on, happily watching the blue sky with his arms folded behind his head.

After almost an hour walk later, Sasuke suddenly sighed.

"You're not saying anything." He pointed out.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at him, not really catching what the other boy had said.

"You're always talking, but today you're not. Why?"

Naruto shrugged.

"Don't know. I guess I've just got a lot on my mind."

A faint smile ghosted over Sasuke's lips.

"I bet."

They kept walking in silence for a moment and then Sasuke spoke again.

"You're not going to ask me anything?"

Naruto tore his eyes away from the sky once again and looked at him.

"About what?"

Sasuke's eyes quickly shot to the ground.

"Well, after last night... I thought you might be curious about some things. Like when it all started and stuff..."

Naruto stared at him.

He had expected it to go easy, sure, but he had never thought that Sasuke would be the one to bring it up!

He shrugged again and tried to sound as casual as possible.

"Only if you wanna tell me."

"So you don't wanna know?"

Naruto grinned and elbowed his team mate in the side.

"Of course I wanna know. You've been hiding your little secret long enough."

Sasuke smiled again, a little bit wider this time.

Even for Naruto, it was unusual to see Sasuke pull off a genuine smile, and he grinned back happily.

Then the smile turned back into one of Sasuke's usual smirks.

"Then I guess you'll have to wait."

Naruto's grin faded as quickly as it had emerged.

"What?! C'mon, you can't do that!"

"Oh yes, I can."

Naruto couldn't believe his ears. The bastard was going to keep him hanging anyway!

"But...!"

Sasuke suddenly raised a hand and gently pushed a finger against Naruto's lips and Naruto's protests died on his tongue.

Sasuke moved closer, leaning in against his face with a secretive smile.

"When we've finished our mission, you'll get to question me how much, long and however you want, but before that, you'll have to wait."

Naruto blinked when Sasuke's breath fell on his ear.

"Understood?"

His heart suddenly began racing. All of a sudden Sasuke's body seemed way too close, his voice way too low and the distance to his mouth _way_ too short.

He looked up and met a pair of dark eyes, and something in his stomach twisted when he saw the smirk on Sasuke's lips and he swallowed hard.

"Sure." He squeaked.

Something gleamed in those black eyes and then the strange feeling disappeared when Sasuke straightened up again.

"Great. Shall we get going then?"

Naruto blinked and then he grinned, thinking that Sasuke must've been playing some weird, in-Sasuke's-world-considered-joke on him and shrugged, heading down the road again.

"Whatever, you're in charge."

Sasuke gave him an amused look and a raised brow.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you're the one carrying the parcel and all..."

Sasuke scowled.

"I don't have the parcel."

Naruto scowled back.

"What do you mean; you don't have the parcel?"

"It wasn't among my stuff when we left. You must have it."

"No, I don't."

They stopped and looked at each other. Naruto watched Sasuke pull off his backpack and place it on the ground, going through the stuff inside. He looked on nervously.

"C'mon Sasuke, stop messing around."

"_You_ stop messing around, it's not in here."

Sasuke looked up and Naruto realised that he really wasn't kidding.

"You _lost_ it?!"

"No."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh yeah, then where is it? You ate it or what?"

"It was right here this morning! I know because I saw it when I.."

He cut himself off. Then he groaned and hid his face in his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose. Naruto continued to look at him accusingly.

"What? When you what?"

"When I emptied my backpack..."

Sasuke got up and looked over his shoulder.

"We have to go back."

"What?! There's no way I'm going all the way back there!"

"You suggest we leave it there then?" Sasuke glared.

"But...! Can't we just buy a new gift for that girl? I mean, you heard what granny Tsunade said; she's seven years old! It's probably just a doll or something anyway. She'll never know the difference!"

Sasuke gave him a long, steady and very _firm_ look and Naruto's shoulders slouched and he rolled his yes at the sky.

"Alright, alright, I know; stupid idea..."

"Very."

Naruto looked back on the road they had just left behind and whimpered.

"Can't you go by yourself?"

"Naruto...!"

"Just asking!"

--

--

They ran back, making sure not to loose any more time and sure enough, when they reached the camp site, they found the parcel lying peacefully in the grass next to the spot Sasuke had been sleeping on.

Sasuke quickly picked it up and eyed it, checking it from every possible angle and even activating his Sharingan while doing so. Naruto sighed and leaned against a nearby tree.

"What are you doing?"

Sasuke glanced at him and then put the parcel back into his backpack with a snort.

"Checking to see if it's the real one. Someone might have swiped it while we were gone."

Naruto looked at him as if he had gone completely crackers.

"Who the hell would bother to swipe a seven year-old's birthday present?"

"How should I know? It never hurts to make sure, that's all."

Naruto threw his arms out and groaned tiredly.

"C'mon Sasuke, the guy was just being paranoid! There's no one who's going to try and steal that thing. We could might as well send it with the mail and it wouldn't make a difference! Why the whole security-drill?"

Sasuke straightened up and glared at him with dark eyes.

"Because," he said coldly, "this just so happens to be an A-ranked mission. A mission which also, just so happens, have been assigned to _us_. And if the client says that there might be a risk for the parcel to get stolen, then we have to assume the same, despite what our superiors says. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want to go all this way and deliver this to the receiver, just to find out that we've been carrying a fake all along. Now, if you wanna play it the risky way, then do so when you're on your own, but when you're with me, we do this _my_ way, understand?"

Naruto glared back, but of course he knew that the other teen was right and soon gave up, sighed and looked away.

"I know." He mumbled. "It's just so... _stupid_... You know what I mean?"

Sasuke's glare softened somewhat.

"Yeah. But it's part of the protocol."

"Well protocol sucks." Naruto grumbled and kicked his foot into the ground.

Sasuke watched the blonde pout for a while and then he shook his head, smiling amusedly.

"I know. Protocol sucks." He met Naruto's eyes when the other looked up with a surprised expression and smiled again.

"The bigger reason to get this over with as soon as possible."

He turned around towards the road once again.

"We've got until tomorrow, but if we hurry we might make it there tonight. So what do you say, Dobe? Wanna speed things up a little?"

Naruto's competitive streak instantly responded to the challenge in the Uchiha's voice.

"You think you can keep up with me, Teme?" he taunted, securing his own backpack tightly.

"Hn, as if you could ever outrun me."

Naruto answered the smirk with a grin.

"You're not going to see me for all the dust, bastard."

"Then how about proving that?"

"Bring it on."

--

--

They arrived at their destination almost at the same time as the sun began to set in the horizon, a small mansion lying in the outskirts of the Rain Country, bordering the Fire Country. It was surrounded by a high stone wall with a gate that could have kept an entire army at bay. Now however, the gate was open and the two ninjas easily proceeded into the courtyard were they were met by a servant who led them into a great hall were they were told to wait for the master of the house to arrive.

The ceiling was decorated with Japanese ornaments and motives, paintings of gardens and lakes covered the walls and an open doorway in the middle of the room led out to a beautifully arranged area with small trees, flowers and streaming miniature waterfalls.

A few decorative vases and flower arrangements were placed on low tables by the doorways, but apart from that the room was sparsely furnished.

It was all very elegant and there was no doubt that this mansion indeed belonged to someone of great wealth.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, the slide door at the end of the room opened and a man walked in.

He wore a simple, blue yukata and the only indications of his status was a golden chain and a ring decorated with a single jade stone.

At first Naruto doubted his own eyes, because the man in front of them looked exactly like the one who had assigned them their mission back in Konoha.

But as he got closer he realized that there were differences in his appearance that ruled that option out.

First off, this man had a calm, almost serene look on his face, without the flickering eyes and sickly pale skin. He was also thinner and had longer, less curly hair and his moustache was definitely better trimmed.

He greeted them with a bow which they returned and then he offered them to sit down with him by a nearby table.

"I see my dear brother has overdone himself once again." he said, almost apologising.

"Hiring Konoha shinobi to deliver such a simple thing as my daughter's birthday present really is taking things to the extreme. I hope this hasn't caused you any trouble?"

"Not at all, sir." Sasuke replied with a light bow, but the man waved it away smiling.

"Come, come, no need to be all polite. We're all equals here."

Naruto grinned. He had expected the master of the house to be a spoiled, swanky, snotty-nosed guy with a superiority complex.

But he actually liked this guy.

Sasuke however, simply bowed again, but kept his straight face as he carefully unpacked the parcel and placed it on the table.

The man took it and gently unwrapped the brown paper, revealing an exquisite wooden box with carved out motives of cherry tree branches with a bird perched among the flowers.

Gently he opened the lid and Naruto's jaw dropped.

Inside, on a bed of silk, was a diamond and jade necklace, complete with a pair of matching earrings. It had to be worth a fortune!

But the man just shook his head and closed the lid again.

"As I said, I hope my brother hasn't angered you with his paranoia."

Naruto shook his head slowly, his eyes still fixed on the box in the man's hand.

Sasuke also shook his head, though somewhat more dignified.

"Absolutely not, sir. It is our duty to follow the orders given to us."

"I see. Anyway, I'd like to make up for my brothers lack of reason and offer you to stay the night here in my home."

Naruto's eyes shot up from the box and stared at him.

Stay the night? Here?

"That's very kind of you sir, but we have to head back as soon as possible."

Naruto glared at his team mate. Was he stupid?!

The man seemed to share the same opinion.

"No, no, I insist. I simply can't allow this to go by unseen. Besides, you must be tired from your journey."

Sasuke was about to say something more but got interrupted by a raised hand.

"I will not have no for an answer."

Sasuke turned to Naruto who gave him a pleading look, then he turned to the man again.

"We'd be happy to accept your offer, sir."

The man smiled and put his hands together.

"Excellent! I'll make sure that you'll be taken care of right away."

He clapped his hands twice and immediately the big doors opened and two servants stepped into the room.

"My people here will show you to your rooms and provide you with something to eat. After that you're free to use the hot springs in the west end of the mansion while you're clothes gets washed."

Even Sasuke's eyes lit up when he heard the mentioning of hot springs and some of the resistance left him as he bowed once again and thanked for the hospitality.

Their newly made host just smiled, as if amused by the overwhelming politeness

"Nothing worth mentioning my friend. Now, make yourselves comfortable and I'll see you in the morning."

And with that he got up and left the room, leaving the two ninjas to settle in for the night.

--

--

"Aaaahhh, this is life!"

Naruto sighed happily, sinking deeper into the steaming water.

Sasuke cracked an eye open and smirked at him.

"Hn, and to think that you wanted to leave the parcel in the woods and buy her a doll. You're lucky I'm not listening to you, dobe."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I was wrong, you were right, happy?"

"For a while."

Sasuke closed his eyes again and leaned his head back against the edge of the spring they were in.

The hot springs were just as comfortable as their supper had been tasty, and after an entire day of racing each other to their destination, they were both happy to sink down and let their aching muscles get some rest.

Another servant had come in shortly after them and left a tray with two cups and a bottle of sake which they had both happily made use of.

Sasuke was sure that he probably was about to become tipsy soon, but it was hard to tell with all the heat. Naruto on the other hand wasn't that fond of sake in the first place, so he had taken it a bit easier on the bottle than his team mate.

He was happy just to soak and relax in the hot water, and he really wasn't that fond of hangovers.

He sighed contently again, stretching out as much as he could.

"What a bonus. If only this could come as standard with each mission."

He opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke.

"Which reminds me, the mission is over now, huh?"

Sasuke shrugged and took a sip of his sake.

"I guess so."

"Then I get to question you now, am I right?"

"You can always try."

"And you'll answer without getting all stuck up about it?"

Sasuke lowered his cup and smirked.

"I guarantee nothing."

Naruto leaned against the edge of the pool, smirking back.

"Alright, smartass, how about telling me how it all started? Bet it was love at first sight, huh?"

Sasuke snorted.

"Not likely. Annoyance at first sight would be more exact."

"Oh, you went that way."

"You didn't?" he asked amusedly.

"Not really. I mean, I thought it started with the first kiss and all, but I guess I'm just old-fashioned."

Sasuke stared at him. The first kiss?

"I didn't realise that was so important to you."

Naruto grinned.

"What can I say, I'm a sucker for romantic moments. Not that I would know what a _real_ first kiss would be like since that moment was shared with _you_." He added, rolling his eyes.

"As if you were Mr.Love himself." Sasuke smirked. "But never mind, it didn't start like that anyway."

"Okay, so when did this annoyance-thing evolve into love? Did you hit your head or something?"

Sasuke sighed.

"It went gradually actually. I'm not sure when it happened. We argued and fought a lot, you know we still do sometimes, but somehow it's different now. You know what I mean?"

"I guess there's some kind of reason behind it... But you can't be saying that you just woke up one morning and realised that you were in love?"

"No. that happened during a mission. We were talking about something, and it just hit me."

Naruto's smile faded somewhat.

"Must've been some wake-up call..." he said, suddenly feeling it as if he had gotten a slap in the face.

During a mission? But... the only missions Sasuke had been on since he came back had been with Naruto... and...

_Sakura?!_

The bastard was in love with _Sakura_?!

When the hell did that happen?!

He saw Sasuke give him a funny look and realized that he was staring and turned away.

Sasuke smirked. He knew that he was considered to be good-looking, but he had never received a full-on open stare from the blonde before.

He watched as the dobe took his sake-cup, filled it and emptied it in a single swig, looking somewhat embarrassed.

And maybe it was just a combination of heat and alcohol, but wasn't that a blush on his cheek?

In any case, it made the blonde look absolutely rava-licious.

The steam had left small drops of water on the teen's neck, and as Sasuke watched, one of them slowly trickled down to rest in the small curve by the blonde's collarbone.

The thought of leaning over and lick that water up crossed his mind, raising his pulse.

Would it be too soon? Would he ruin anything by moving that fast?

Naruto ran a hand through and ruffled his hair, letting out a low groan that clenched Sasuke's chest.

How could he resist? Naruto already knew, right? It wasn't like he had been acting weird about it or anything...

He leaned forward slightly, but hesitated. Naruto hadn't been acting weird about it, because Sasuke hadn't really done anything to weird out on yet.

If he did this, maybe he really would ruin everything?

Naruto turned and gave him a small, almost shy smile.

Soft, pink lips...

So many times he had thought about kissing them.

Maybe this time things would be different? Not like that time...

Perhaps... if he just...

He moved forward again, not really thinking about what he was doing, his mind lost in the thought of feeling Naruto's lips against his own.

Naruto watched him move closer and leaned back lightly.

"Sasuke?"

A hand settled on the edge behind him, next to his head.

"Sasuke, what are you...?"

A finger against his lips.

There it was, that feeling again.

His stomach twisting, almost painfully.

Sasuke leaned in, his face getting closer...

Naruto felt Sasuke's leg move against his own and that sent a sharp electronic spark through his entire body, awakening him completely.

"Sasuke!"

He forcefully shoved the raven away, sending Sasuke tumbling backwards into the water and disappearing under the surface.

Naruto scrambled out of the pool, grabbed his towel and almost ran out into to the locker room with a heart that was pounding away inside his chest.

Sasuke reappeared at the surface, spitting and coughing up water just in time to se the door slam shut as the blonde made his exit.

_Fuck!_

He leaped out of the water and ran after him, cursing himself for being so stupid at the same time as he wrapped a towel around his waist..

Ripping the door open he saw Naruto pull on one of the robes they had been given earlier and then turn to leave.

"Naruto, wait!"

Naruto spun around and glared at him.

"What's your problem?"

Sasuke blinked.

"What?"

"Out there. What the hell do you think you were doing?"

"Nothing. I just..."

_Oh god, an excuse, he had to come up with an excuse...!_

"...I just thought I heard something."

"Like what?" Naruto continued to glare, obviously not buying it.

"Something. I think... I think we're being watched." He added in a serious voice and glanced over his shoulder, giving the impression of scanning the area.

_It could work... _

Naruto scowled.

"Watched? Why would someone be watching us?"

"I don't know."

He walked up to the locker and pulled out his own robe and whispered,

"But I don't trust the people of this place. Why would they be so eager to have us stay the night in the first place anyway?"

Naruto raised a brow at him and snorted.

"Common courtesy, perhaps?"

"This is Rain Country; hospitality isn't exactly flourishing here."

"Well, this place seams alright to me."

"Things aren't always what they seam, you know that."

"You're just being paranoid."

Naruto looked at him and Sasuke could see how the blonde's defences dropped as his arguments hit home.

"Honestly, you never really relax, do you?"

Sasuke smiled, feeling the tightness in his chest loosen up.

"Not even when I sleep."

Naruto laughed and gave him a punch on the arm.

"Just don't do stuff like that again without warning me, alright? Damn it, you scared me."

"You're such a scaredy-cat." Sasuke smirked and quickly ducked for the towel that came flying against his head.

"Am not!"

"Always been, will always be. If I told you a ghost story right now, you'd stay awake 'till morning hugging your pillow until it's shaped like you."

"Pft, I so wouldn't."

"Don't act so tough, dobe. You'd come running _begging_ to stay in my room before the night was over. Perhaps even in my bed." He added smugly.

Naruto grinned.

"I think I'll leave that part to your girlfriend. She might get jealous and throw a tantrum if she finds out that we've been 'sleeping' together."

Sasuke stared at him.

_Girlfriend? _

Naruto chuckled and walked over to retrieve the towel he had thrown earlier.

"I mean, I don't know about you, but I've been beaten up by her a couple of times. The bruises lasts for _days_, I'll tell you that. You'll probably need that fancy footwork of yours if you intend to start a relationship with her."

_Her?_

_Start a relationship?_

_But... But..._

Naruto threw the towel in the laundry bin by the door and then he stretched up his arms over his head and yawned widely.

"I think I'm off to bed now. We've got a long way back tomorrow. I'll se you at breakfast."

He smiled and gave Sasuke a little wave as he walked out the door, unaware of the fact that he had just left his best friend's heart stabbed and bleeding inside his chest.

--

--

Sasuke's hand gently rested against his neck while the other silently ran a thumb over his cheek.

"Sasuke..."

His voice was quiet, weak, and Sasuke smirked at him.

Naruto's stomach twisted at the sight, at the gleam in pitch black eyes...

"Don't say anything."

"But I..."

"Sshh..."

A flutter of lips, heart beating, blood flowing faster...

Fingers against his skin.

Sasuke's mouth left his, continuing to kiss on his neck, making him gasp.

So warm.

So cold.

A light nip, making him moan.

_So good..._

"Naruto..."

"Sasuke... Why...?"

Lips pressing tightly, tongue pushing inside his mouth, breath growing ragged and shallow...

Sasuke's moan sending shivers through his body.

_What was he doing?_

"Didn't I tell you not to speak?"

_Where was he?_

_Why was he... with _Sasuke_?!_

"Gaah!"

He sat up with a startled cry and stared at the black spot in front of him.

Where was he?! What was going on?!

His heart was having a minor rock-concert in his chest, but as his eyes got used to the darkness the memories slowly came back to him one by one.

He was in his room, at a mansion in Rain Country... _Not_ in a hot spring making out with Sasuke!

His breath caught in his throat at the thought.

What kind of a fucked up dream was that?!

Slowly his breathing returned to normal and he threw himself back onto his pillow.

Stupid Sasuke and his conspiracy-theories!

If he hadn't done that weird out-movement earlier and scared him he wouldn't be here, having nightmares about it!

He groaned and rolled over to his stomach.

"Stupid Teme..."

The image of Sasuke's lips pressing against his own fluttered through his head and he grimaced.

"Bleh!"

His brain must be really worked out to come up with a dream like that.

Him and Sasuke kissing – yuck!

Rolling over to his back again he looked up at the shadows of the clouds sweep across the moonlit ceiling.

A soft breeze rustle the leaves of the trees outside and Naruto turned his head to look out the window, and then he turned his eyes back to gaze around the room.

He and Sasuke had each been provided with a 'guestroom'.

In this case, his guestroom turned out to be bigger than his entire apartment.

The bed was too big to even fit in his living room and he was sure that the decorations inside would be worth enough to provide him with ramen for the rest of his life!

If this was a guestroom, then he didn't even want to think what the master bedroom was like.

He had no idea what kind of room Sasuke had been given though. He wasn't even sure where his team mate's room was.

Hell, he hardly knew where his _own_ room was.

Was Sasuke's room even in the same part of the mansion?

For some reason the thought about not knowing were Sasuke was made him feel uncomfortable. Being separated was not very smart when you were on unfamiliar territory...

He mentally smacked himself.

Why would he worry about being apart from Sasuke in the first place?

It wasn't like they were staying somewhere _unsafe_.

It was simply Sasuke's ramble from before that kept messing with his head.

"As if a rich person can't offer some hospitality without being fishy."

Sasuke was just overreacting. Talking about people watching them.

Spying on them.

"Tch, most stupid thing I've ever heard..."

A sudden, loud snapping sound from one of the floorboards almost made him jump three feet into the air and he quickly buried himself deeper among the thick covers of the bed.

The thought of a black clad person standing outside his bedroom door crossed his mind, but he quickly shook it off.

A new creaking sound was heard, and for some reason it seemed closer this time.

In his head, the black spy outside his door suddenly changed, and instead an image of a white, half transparent, _dead_ hand being placed on a handle flashed through his mind.

The hairs on his neck immediately stood on end as a cold shiver ran up his spine.

Was it possible for ghosts to open doors?

Or would they rather float right through it?

He pulled the sheets up to his chin and anxiously stared at the door, partially expecting to see the ghost of some old nobleman come soaring through the thick wood.

_You're such a scaredy-cat. Always been, will always be..._

Damn Uchiha. Why did he have to bring such a thing up?

He knew Naruto hated ghost stories!

And while staying at this mansion on top of it all.

_Wonder how many people who have died in this place...?_

The question settled in his mind before he could stop it and the next moment it was followed up by a second one,

_Wonder how many of those people died in _here?

The branches of the tree outside his window scraped against the glass and Naruto dove underneath the covers with a yelp, holding his pillow pressed tightly against his chest.

_You'd stay awake 'till morning hugging your pillow until it's shaped like you._

Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ Teme!

* * *

**Gaaah,!**

**I feel so sorry for Sasuke, believe me I really, really do!**

**But this has to happen, trust me.**

**Vengeance is sweet right? And Naruto **_**will**_** suffer for breaking Duck-Butt's... erhm, I mean Sasuke's heart.**

**Just give it time.**

**...**

**Btw, I'd really, really love to get tons of reviews for this story. Opinions and such... Would you mind helping me out??**

**Every little bit helps you know...**

* * *


	7. A Helping Hand

**

* * *

****Alright, first of all, I'd like to thank all of you for all the wonderful reviews you sent me.**

**They help me discover what kind of stuff I need to work with and of course all those annoying grammar-mistakes I manage to make all the time.**

**I'll do my best to work with it and make use of the tips you gave me and I hope that it will show in my stories later on.**

**However, feel free to give me more constructive criticism whenever you want and about anything you think I need pointers about. **

**I want to improve my writing-skills and I would be truly grateful for whatever help I can get.**

**So, with that said, here's the new chapter! Yay!**

* * *

**A Helping Hand**

It was a very ruffled and drowsy-looking Naruto who took place at the breakfast table the next morning. Not having the energy it took to even fix his hair he had just pulled a hand through it and then gotten dressed, yawning and grumbling all the while, and then his stomach had loudly demanded him to go off and find something to eat.

And oh, did he find something...

The breakfast table itself that was set down in the dining hall was hardly visible due to all the food that was covering it.

There was steamed rice, miso-soup, grilled fish, rolled omelette, pickles, dried seaweed, natto, salad, fruits and much, much more stuff that Naruto didn't even recognize.

Not that he cared, he was too busy trying to eat everything at once.

There were signs on the other side of the table that someone had already been there before him and Naruto assumed that this so-called-someone was Sasuke.

Not that he was surprised; the bastard had always been unhealthy early when it came to waking up.

Once he had finished his breakfast, leaving depressingly little to spare, he stretched out and yawned a final time before he got up to go back to his room and get his stuff before heading out to find his team mate, though he wasn't sure if it was to say good morning or to give him a good scolding for ruining his sleep...

In the light of the morning sun the room looked completely different than from the night before. He couldn't believe how he could have thought it to be scary in the first place.

With a depressed sigh he closed his backpack and took a final look in the big mirror by the door.

Why couldn't he be scared of something more manly? Something a little more _physical_, like an army or something...

"Scaredy-cat." He scolded his reflection, but it didn't seem to take any notice. He tried to glare at it, but his aggressive expression turned out quite harmless as he let out another yawn.

Stupid Sasuke. Naruto could bet money on that he was going to laugh his ass off at this... That last action being performed mentally of course...

--

--

Sasuke was already at the courtyard when Naruto got there, but if Naruto thought that he had been having a rough night, then Sasuke looked like he had been fighting a war or something.

His face was paler than porcelain and he had dark circles under his eyes that made him look worn and beat in a way that Naruto almost found scary.

That sake from last night must have hit pretty hard to earn him a hangover-look like that…

Thus, when Naruto said good morning he didn't really expect an answer, but the blank look he received in return actually made him feel guilty for calling it 'good' in the first place.

_Damn it, he looks like someone who just died... _

Somehow he found the situation very unnerving. Sasuke's behaviour was just... wrong. Not that he had done anything yet, but that was sort of the issue.

No snort, no comment on Naruto's looks, no smirk.

That's what disturbed him the most.

Here he was, looking like he had spent the night _underneath_ his bed instead of in it, and the bastard didn't even smirk at him.

Hell, he wasn't even _looking_ at him!

He was about to open his mouth and ask him if something was wrong, but then the doors opened behind them and their host came out to wave them off.

It turned into a very hasty farewell, that being their own decision. They thanked him for the hospitality and he ensured them that it had been a pleasure, wished them a safe journey over a hundred times and even provided them with extra food and supplies for the road before they were allowed to leave.

Naruto's arm was aching from all the waving when he finally let it drop and turned to face the road ahead again.

It was a beautiful day with a golden sun perched in the bright, clear sky and there was a light breeze rustling through the leaves of the forest around them. All in all, it was a perfect day for travelling, except for the fact that Naruto felt much more like staying in a bed from the very start than having to walk a hundred miles or so first just to get to one.

Next to him, Sasuke seemed to be of the same, unspoken opinion as he silently kept staring into the ground as he walked.

That was another thing that Naruto found disturbing. Sasuke didn't look at the ground except for when he was brooding. A brooding Sasuke wasn't a very fun travel companion, but unfortunately and needless to say, he was the only one Naruto had at the moment.

Usually the blonde would take the first –not necessarily the best- opportunity to mess with the other teen simply to make time go faster, but right now Sasuke was broody which meant that any kind of messing would end up in a fistfight and Naruto was simply way too tired to participate in such an event.

They kept a steady pace, though it was much slower than their usual speed and the journey went on in silence.

The birds were singing euphorically in the trees and the sun kept beaming down on them, making it ruthlessly hot even in the shade underneath the trees.

By midday Naruto had taken his jumpsuit jacket off and tied it around his waist and was beginning to tug impatiently at the hem of his black t-shirt as well while Sasuke seemed to stay unaffected by the heat, still wearing his jounin vest and black sweater.

A few minutes later Naruto simply couldn't take anymore, stopped and took his backpack off and then proceeded with the task of forcefully tearing off his shirt.

"I'm having a heatstroke!" he exclaimed loudly as he emerged from within the black fabric.

"Damn it's hot out today." He tried to use the abused piece of clothing to fan himself, but failed miserably since the t-shirt only managed to flap him in the face, so instead he settled with closing his eyes and tilting his head back to relish in the little coolness he could get from the gentle breeze.

Sasuke had only heard the first syllable of the blonde's complaints and then the rest had been completely lost when the realisation of the fact that Naruto had just taken his shirt off hit his overheated brain. He couldn't even bring himself to 'hn' or even nod; he just stood there and stared openly at the sight of Naruto's tanned, naked skin.

The moist from the heat made the blonde's muscles glisten in golden tones that seemed to be glowing in the sunlight. The hair in the back of his neck was damp and slightly ruffled from the t-shirts collar and again there was the tiniest pearl of sweat that rolled down the skin to finally come to a rest just above the collarbone.

His eyelashes fluttered against the scarred cheeks and his lips were curled up in one of those tranquil smiles that were rarely seen on the blonde's face.

Sasuke's heart literally stung as his eyes came to rest on those lips.

He was starving for the touch of them. Dying for that special taste he had only been able to defy in his deepest sleep but never hold on to long enough to remember.

Despite the painful truth that he knew of, Sasuke couldn't stop his feelings for the other boy any more than a single tree could stand against an avalanche.

He was lost; blinded and crippled in the light that the blonde seemed to radiate and even though he had tried he just couldn't fight it anymore.

There was just no way that he could stop loving the fool in front of him, even if he told himself otherwise for the rest of his life he knew that he would always long for him, despite the pain it would cause and the cruel truth that came from doing so.

Because the truth was that no matter if he fought for it or not, Naruto's heart would always be just beyond his reach, as untouchable as the blonde was right now: for observation only.

The feeling aching throughout his soul was the same as from being speared alive, but it couldn't be changed.

Naruto would never become his.

It was out of willpower alone he managed to turn his eyes away and start walking again, forcing his body to carry him in the opposite direction of the one he really wanted to go.

Pain was suffocating him, sharp and white like lightning cutting through the clouds of a thunderstorm.

_Never his. _

Behind him Naruto stretched out and yawned before continuing to walk as well, feeling refreshed by the cool air.

He contemplated on whether or not to ask Sasuke for a light sparring, but since the bastard was still being all broody, he decided not to.

--

--

Naruto woke up from the sound of Sasuke's voice.

It was in the middle of the night and the moon was still hanging high in the sky above their camp.

He looked up to see if the other boy was awake, but found that he was still sleeping.

Sasuke was lying on the other side of the fireplace and his face was lit up by the failing rests of the still red ember. He was scowling and as Naruto watched him, he turned his head from one side to another, groaning silently.

At first he thought that it might be one of 'those' dreams, but something in the raven's voice and features told him different and he slowly got up and walked over to the bedroll where his team mate kept trashing from side to side. As he got closer he could hear occasional whimpers and half-broken moans escape the raven's mouth, and they sure as hell didn't sound like the pleasurable kind.

As he sat down beside him he immediately recognized the painful look on his friend's face;

A nightmare.

Sasuke hadn't had one of those in years.

Dreams of things that had been done to him during the years he had been gone. Things he had done to others...

He was sweating and shaking, mumbling incoherent words with a cracked, weak voice.

It pained Naruto to see him like this. It scared him in a way he had never thought possible.

The first time it happened he hadn't known what to do...

_**--Flashback--** _

It had been during Sasuke's first job since his return to Konoha and of course Naruto was the only one who willingly would team up with him. It had been a mission not to unlike this one, and Naruto had been on watch when Sasuke suddenly had started twisting and turning in his sleep while mumbling broken bits and pieces of sentences and words that Naruto couldn't make out. The mumbling had soon turned into whimpers and small cries, so unlike any sound Naruto had ever heard from his friend before and it only got worse and worse.

Then he had heard his own name being called out to him in the same pleading voice and Sasuke had reached out his hand in his sleep as if he was trying to grab for something.

Naruto's mind had just blanked out on him and he had been struck by a sudden, clear insight.

It only lasted for a split second and he couldn't really make it all out, but he somehow knew exactly what to do.

He had grabbed Sasuke's hand and then he had started talking.

It was the only thing he could think of, the only thing that seemed reasonable.

He had talked to him all night, whispered calming words of comfort in his ear and the relief he had felt when his friend calmed down barely had room to fit in his chest.

The relief was short-lived though, because the dreams kept coming back.

Every night Naruto would sit by Sasuke's bedroll, talking the nightmares away and soon he found that he wasn't even able to fall asleep without first knowing for sure that his friend wouldn't have to wake up screaming later on.

Naruto didn't know if Sasuke remembered the dreams afterwards, but he was pretty sure that the Uchiha had some kind of idea that Naruto helped him through them, but that was just one of those things that they never talked about. The nightmares didn't have to haunt Sasuke while he was awake as well, so Naruto kept quiet about it.

Eventually, as time went by, the nightmares began to fade until one day they simply stopped and Sasuke's sleep became silent. He didn't turn while sleeping, he never spoke or did any sounds of any kind. To someone who didn't know him he might as well have been dead as soon as his eyes closed. The most recent night Naruto had watched over Sasuke had occurred nearly three years ago, but now for some reason, the nightmare was back...

_**--End Flashback--**_

Naruto cringed when Sasuke yelped in his sleep and curled up as if he had just gotten hit in the stomach, and without thinking, as if the years that had gone by never happened he reached out and grabbed his friend's shaking hand.

"Sasuke..."

He kept his eyes locked on the raven's face and he felt the wild tremors being transferred to his own hand when his fingers laced with Sasuke's.

"Sasuke. It's alright."

A new whimper was heard and the grip from the other boy tightened.

"I'm here. It's just a dream."

"Naruto..."

Sasuke was asleep, Naruto knew it. This was how it always was.

"I'm here. It's all over now, you're safe."

"I... so sorry…"

"I know."

Sasuke's eyes were tightly shut and even in the dim light from the fire Naruto could se the rapid eye movements underneath the eyelids. He was still shaking and his hand was clamped around Naruto's as if it was a lifeline.

Naruto slowly placed his other hand on the teen's forehead, gently pressing down to still his movements and proceeded to whisper calming words and reassurances into his ear.

It cut him like a blade to know that even after all these years and all that had happened, Sasuke was still carrying all this guilt and pain inside him, hidden underneath that silent mask of his that never showed any expressions or feelings.

And to make it all worse Naruto realised that no matter how hard he tried, and despite how many times he managed to chase them away, the nightmares would never go away. Like hungry vultures circling over a dying animal they would keep coming back...

Eventually, after what felt like ages, the shivers calmed down and Sasuke's breathing returned to normal. Naruto kept whispering and stroking his hair until the trashing and whimpering disappeared completely, then he just sat there.

He wanted to make sure that the nightmare wasn't coming back.

He had no idea how much time that had passed when he suddenly heard a sharp intake of breath from beneath him and looked down, meeting the dark, _very_ startled eyes of his team mate and froze.

Sasuke didn't move. He hardly breathed. He just kept staring at Naruto like a mouse staring up at a cat.

It took a while but eventually Naruto realised that he still had his left hand tangled in Sasuke's hair and he instantly jerked it back as if he had burned himself.

Somewhere from a little corner of his mind he heard a voice telling him to move, or at least say something, but unfortunately that tiny corner was the only thing in his system still working which resulted in him, sitting there, staring down at Sasuke just as terrified as Sasuke was staring up at him.

_Oh. Shit._

He somehow managed to swallow and then open his mouth to speak - not that he knew what to say, but it was a start – although all he was able to perform was some kind of wheezing squeak-sound in the back of his throat and that was about it.

He didn't know why he felt so incredibly awkward. He had just taken care of his best friend, that's all! But somehow the things that had come so naturally when said best friend was asleep didn't feel quite as normal now when he was awake.

Sasuke was still looking at him with his 'what-the-fuck-face', which he by the way only used, let's say two times a _year_ or so and he was really beginning to freak Naruto out!

Then a new horror dawned on the blonde when his eyes drifted down to see that his fingers were still meshed together with the raven's and when he met Sasuke's eyes again he could see that the other was very well aware of the same fact.

"I..." Finally his voice was coming back, though it sounded horrifyingly hoarse and meek. He swallowed again and started to move backwards, thankful for the fact that his ability to move was returning as well.

"I was just... I-I didn't think you'd... I mean..."

Feeling panic boil up from the pit of his stomach he tried to untangle himself from the other's hand, but instead of letting go, Sasuke's grip tightened and prevented him from moving away.

"Wait."

Naruto froze in the middle of a bad excuse and stared at Sasuke who wasn't looking at his face anymore, but at their hands.

"Please... stay."

Naruto didn't know what too say. He surely had not expected that kind of reaction and for some reason Sasuke's lack of response made him want to turn around and flee even more, but there was something in Sasuke's voice that he just couldn't ignore. Sasuke was asking him to stay, _really_ asking and no matter how freaky _that_ scenario felt, he just couldn't leave.

So he silently sat down again, without knowing what to do or what to say. Maybe he shouldn't say anything? Did Sasuke want him to speak or did he just don't want to be alone?

He didn't have to think about it long, because Sasuke solved the issue for him by speaking first.

"I was dreaming again wasn't I?"

His voice was silent, hardly more than a whisper. Naruto nodded, but then he realised that Sasuke still wasn't looking at him.

"You had a nightmare." He said silently.

"Did I wake you?"

"Yeah..."

They fell silent again, both looking everywhere but at the other, desperately trying to figure out what to say.

Naruto still felt that he needed to explain himself more. He hadn't thought about what he was doing, he had woken up and when he realised what was going on he had just...

He looked down on their laced fingers.

"You... you were in pain. You scared me."

Sasuke glanced at him.

"I did?"

"It looked like you were about to die or something… It freaked me out…"

A corner of Sasuke's mouth tilted upwards.

"Scaredy-cat." He taunted languidly.

"Shut up." Naruto glared at him and gave him a playful jab with his elbow. "Next time _I_ can sleep and _you_ get scared, then you'll see what I mean."

"Not likely. I'll just wake you up with a kick in the ass and the problem's solved."

"I'm sure you would, you sadistic bastard."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

Naruto grinned.

"How about a fist in the face then?"

Sasuke snorted out laughter and shook his head slowly as he undid his fingers from Naruto's and stood up.

"It's late, you should get some sleep."

Naruto huffed and stood up as well.

"I'm not tired anymore." He proclaimed stubbornly.

Sasuke looked at him.

"Yes you are. Besides, you didn't look like you got much sleep last night either. Go to bed."

"What are you, my mother?"

"Sometimes, but that's just another nightmare."

"Oh, go shove it somewhere..."

"Fine, if you're not going to sleep, then what are you planning to do?"

Half an hour later they had packed up their stuff and were heading down the road again, bickering silently about life threatening questions like whose turn it actually HAD been to do the dishes the night before...

--

--

At the end of the next day, the final day of their journey, Naruto had noticed an evident change in his friend's mood and behaviour.

Of course, Sasuke was still being his usual, non-talkative self, but there were just small signs that revealed that the Uchiha actually was in a good mood.

He wasn't brooding like the day before, his back was straightened and he didn't glare as much as he usually did.

_It must be because we're getting close to home... _Naruto reasoned.

Of course it was all perfectly understandable.

When they got back they were to report to Tsunade the first thing they did, and going to baa-chan's office pretty much equalled with meeting up with Sakura...

Naruto had actually been doing some thinking about the situation and he had thus come to the following conclusion;

First off, he had realised that he had made a huge mistake.

He had thought that the girl was a blonde, simply by going on Sasuke's reaction on the subject at the restaurant. However, Sasuke had never straight out said that it was a blonde, in fact he had violently denied it and Naruto had just assumed him to be lying, which in turn meant that the colour of the girl's hair might as well could be, lets say; pink?

Secondly, Sasuke had said that he had fallen in love with this girl on a mission, and since the only people Naruto knew he had been on a mission with at all was with Naruto himself and Sakura... well, you do the math...

Thirdly, and most importantly, Sasuke had said that he wasn't going to confess to her, obviously fearing the possibility of being rejected and destroying their friendship by telling her the truth.

Now, that was the thing Naruto simply couldn't accept.

His best friend was in love. The Real Deal. The Big Heartthrob. And he was just going to sit there and do nothing?!

Naruto didn't know if Sakura still had feelings for Sasuke or if it had all just been a crush when they were younger, but he did know that she was very fond of him, and that was enough for him. His own puppy-love feelings for Sakura had subsided years ago and matured into a friendship that could be compared to the one between siblings and after finding out about the truth of Sasuke's feelings, there was not a doubt in his soul about what he had to do:

He was going to help his friend find true happiness, even if it killed him!

There was just no way he could stand by and do nothing while knowing what kind of heartbreaking pain Sasuke was going through.

It was his _duty_ as best friend to help him do this! He would never be able to live with himself if he didn't.

He threw a glance at Sasuke and smiled. Sasuke felt the gaze and scowled, glancing back at the blonde.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." Naruto grinned wider and turned his eyes back to the road. "Nothing at all..."

It didn't take long until they could see the gates of the village in the distance and soon afterwards they were standing in Tsunade's office, receiving a shocked stare from the busty woman.

"A necklace?!"

"Naw, more like a set actually. Pretty valuable too judging from the looks of it." Naruto grinned and threw his arms behind his head. "I bet you could've bought half of Konoha with that little box."

Tsunade stared at him and then at Sasuke, who simply nodded in agreement. She slumped down onto her desk and sighed.

"To think I sent it away with just a two-man escort... Imagine what a disaster it would have been if it had been stolen."

"We delivered it safely, Baa-chan. The client received it personally." Naruto's grin didn't falter when Tsunade raised her head to glare at him.

"Which is fortunate for you, kid."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and pouted sourly.

"Maa, Baa-chan, when are you going to stop calling me that? I'm not really a kid anymore."

"Funny, you still act like one." She gave Sasuke a quick glance and then stood up to look out the window behind her desk.

"As a matter of fact, when taking the never-ending fights between you two into consideration I'm surprised you managed to stay focused long enough not to loose the parcel by yourselves."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke and mouthed 'your fault' at him which was received with an angry scowl. In return Naruto stuck his tongue out at the raven just in time as Tsunade turned around to look at them again.

"Kid."

The tongue quickly disappeared and Naruto's arms immediately dropped from their lazy perch behind his head. Tsunade looked at them and then she sighed and rubbed her temples tiredly.

"You'll be paid by Shizune as usual." She groaned, not bothering with trying to hide her frustration. "Try not to break anything on the way out."

Taking the hint the two ninjas turned and left the room. The news about the birthday present seemed to have hit the Hokage pretty hard and none of them wanted to remain in the office once she decided to unleash her bad temper.

They had almost reached the end of the corridor when the first crash of an innocent vase sounded through the closed door behind them.

"I wont tell her about us loosing the parcel if you don't." Naruto mumbled and threw a shaky look over his shoulder. Sasuke followed his gaze and nodded, not being in need of any further persuasion.

"Agreed."

They quickly made their way outside and down the stairs to the small office Shizune had been administrated on the ground floor of the tower and Naruto simply knew that his chance to help Sasuke was on it's way before he had even touched the handle.

Sakura was standing next to Shizune by the desk, eagerly paging through a bundle of paperwork when the door opened and the two friends stepped inside.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!"

The blonde didn't have much time to think before he got yanked into the room by the collar of his jacket and faced with a scowling Sakura who glared daggers at him.

"Where have you been?!" she scolded and pushed a sharp finger against his chest.

"Jeez, Sakura-chan, can't you just say 'hello' like normal people?"

"Oh, don't you try to smooth talk yourself out of this one mister! Do you realise that you've just missed out on an entire _week's_ _worth_ of _studies_?!"

She underlined her words by jabbing the finger into his torso, making him wince. Sakura always seemed to forget her own strength when she was upset.

"But-but Sakura-chan... I was on a mission with Sasuke. We were just-..."

"A mission?!" Sakura instantly flared up. "You don't have time for missions! The exam's in less than a month and you've still have a lot of work to do!"

"But I... Tsunade-baachan said-..."

Naruto's attempt of calming the flaming girl down instantly drowned in a lecturing outburst of rage that Sasuke suspected Sakura had spent the entire week rehearsing in front of the mirror and he leisurely leaned against the doorpost to watch in amusement how the Dobe desperately tried to make his voice heard.

On the other side of the desk that Naruto currently was pushed against, Shizune was blinking in confusion at the sudden change of scenery her office had taken.

Sasuke didn't blame her. Watching Sakura hand it down to Naruto could be a very intense, sometimes even frightening experience and once Sakura's rampage began hitting the higher notes Sasuke always made sure he stayed out of arm's reach from the pair.

Sakura tended to get a bit reckless when she was lecturing.

Eventually, just when Sakura had worked herself up to begin the violent pummelling of Naruto's face, Sasuke decided to cut the Dobe some slack.

"Sakura." He said calmly, halting the girl in the middle of a blistering tirade of insults. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't his studies become a bit complicated if you render him unconscious?"

Sakura glanced at him and then back at Naruto's face which was currently hidden behind a set of sprawled hands.

"I guess."

Naruto relaxed and let his hands drop, but Sakura immediately locked eyes with him again.

"But don't think that you're off the hook just yet. You're going to make up for the time you've lost, you hear me?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, prepared to agree to anything as long as he could avoid getting his head bashed in.

Shizune stared at them and then she carefully leaned around the pair and looked at Sasuke.

"Uhm... Did the two of you want something, or can I get my office back now?"

--

--

"C'mon, Sakura! We haven't hung out in ages!"

Naruto desperately flailed his arms around the pink-haired girl who stubbornly tried her best to ignore him.

"I told you, I can't. I have rounds at the hospital tonight."

Naruto quickly changed tactics and pointed at Sasuke.

"But even Sasuke-teme's agreed to come along. Please, it'll be just like old times."

"Does that involve you being tied to a log and eating our food, Dobe? 'Cause if that's the case I might just change my mind."

"Ha-ha, very funny, asshole."

Sakura rolled her eyes to the sky, but she couldn't help but to smile at the two.

It was darkening and Naruto had suggested that they'd all join to go out to eat, but no matter how much Sakura wanted to she wouldn't be able to press her schedule enough to fit it in.

"Naruto, I promise you that I'll join you another time, but I just can't make it tonight, I'm sorry."

Naruto groaned mentally and gritted his teeth. Why couldn't she just take the hint?!

God, had this been six years ago she would have thrown herself at a chance like this!

"But Sakura-chan..." he whined, but to no avail.

"I'm sorry, believe me I truly am, it's just that my work has to come in first, whether I like it or not."

Sasuke glanced at the two of them and hid a smirk.

No Sakura meant that he and the Dobe would go out alone, which suited his interests much better.

Naruto on his side realised that any further nagging wouldn't do any good so he sighed deeply and slumped his shoulders.

"Fine..."

"There'll be other times, Naruto... I have to get going now, but I'll see you lat-…"

"We'll walk you!"

Sasuke's head immediately snapped up. What?!

Naruto had suddenly shone up again and was now impatiently flailing his hand in the direction of the clinic.

"We'll walk you to the hospital. Then we can a least talk a bit on the way, right?"

Sakura gave him a confused look.

"I guess so... Is that okay with you, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke shrugged and looked away.

"Hn. Whatever."

Naruto glanced at the raven and raised a brow at him. One thing had to be said about the bastard; he really knew how to hide his feelings. Right now you could almost think he was being a bitch about something...

They started heading down the road and Naruto made sure that Sakura and Sasuke was walking alongside with each other before he finally deemed it safe to execute his plan.

While maintaining his rather lively conversation with Sakura he reached into his pocket and lightly flicked the voodoo-doll's arm.

Sasuke's arm immediately lashed out and brushed against Sakura's backside, almost as if slapping it lightly.

Sakura's spine went rigid and she quickly turned her head to stare in shock at the raven, who quickly pulled the hand back and stared back at her with wild panic in his eyes.

She kept staring at him for a couple of seconds before she hastily turned around and started talking to Naruto again as if nothing had happened. Naruto snickered to himself when he spotted the faint blush that spread across her cheeks and threw a quick glance at Sasuke who was still staring at Sakura, as if she had been the one who slapped him instead of the other way around.

They had only walked two or three blocks when Naruto moved over to phase two of his plan and efficiently managed to trip the raven using the doll so that he stumbled against Sakura and almost knocked the two of them over.

Sasuke mumbled out some incoherent apology before he straightened up again and kept walking. Sakura looked at him from behind and slowly shook her head, looking mildly confused.

Naruto kept poking the voodoo-doll all the way to the hospital, causing Sasuke to occasionally brush against Sakura as they walked down the street. Eventually Sasuke was walking with his eyes fixed on the ground, trying to make out every possible rock and hollow he could stumble into through the dusk. He didn't see any, but apparently that didn't stop his feet from finding them...

Sakura kept pretending she didn't notice, but her wondering glances towards the Uchiha increased with each stumble and her conversation with Naruto slowly became more unfocused and rambling, mixed with occasional nervous giggles.

Naruto noticed how Sasuke kept glancing at them and he also noticed that most of the glances were directed towards Sakura.

What he _didn't _notice was the slow clenching and unclenching of Sasuke's fists that came with each high pitched giggle and he also failed to see the crimson colour of his eyes that sent dark glares at the back of the girl's neck.

If Naruto could have read the Uchiha's mind, he would have been presented with a pitch black cloud of jealousy and a very imaginative image of Sakura dangling by her neck in a tree somewhere...

But he _couldn't_ read the Uchiha's mind, so instead he happily continued talking with Sakura, hoping that Sasuke would gather enough courage to join in their conversation, but the raven remained stubbornly silent.

When they finally reached the stair to the clinic and Sakura turned to them to say good night Sasuke still hadn't said a word and was staring down onto the sidewalk, obviously not intending to do or say anything.

Naruto glared at him from the corner of his eye.

_Stupid Teme. Do I have take care of everything all by myself..?._

He gave the doll a harder push than before and this time Sasuke bumped into the girl so hard they almost tumbled over for real.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura caught hold of the raven and helped him steady himself again. "Are you feeling alright?" she quickly placed a hand against his forehead, but he shook it off.

"I'm fine." He snarled.

"Don't be stupid. You've been swaying and stumbling around all night." She firmly pressed the back of her hand against his face.  
"And you've got a fever." She added worriedly. Thanks to the dark outside she didn't notice that the cause of the 'fever' actually was the fierce blush adorning the Uchiha's face, but why bother with details...

"You should go home and get some rest." She ordered. "It seems as if you're coming down with something."

"I don't get sick." Sasuke grumbled.

"You're human, you get sick. Now go home or I'll make you stay the night here."

Naruto almost expected Sasuke to take up on the offer, but instead the raven just snorted and jerked away from her with a cold glare.

"Don't patronise me, Sakura. I don't need your lame sympathies anymore than your help."

Ignoring the shocked gasp form Sakura he then turned away, heading down the street again in the same direction as they originally came from. Naruto stared at him in confusion over the sudden outburst. What the hell was the moron thinking!? He was ruining everything!

"Sasuke!"

At the sound of the blonde' voice Sasuke stopped, but he didn't turn around.

"I'm not sick." He repeated acidly and then he turned around a corner and was gone, leaving the other two gaping in confusion at the hospital stairs.

--

--

Later that night, Naruto had a dream.

He dreamed that he was on his way to Ichiraku's, using his ordinary shortcut through one of the narrow alleyways by his apartment to get there.

He had almost reached the end of the street when he suddenly got grabbed from behind and roughly pushed up against the wall, face-first.

Of course he tried his best to wring himself out of the tight grip that was holding his arms pressed against his back, but the person was simply stronger than him.

He opened his mouth to order his attacker to get the fuck off him when a hand firmly reached around and covered his lips, halting his angry outburst midway.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Naruto's body stiffened at the sound of the male voice behind him.

"You know how foul language only makes me loose control..."

_That voice._

The body behind him pressed closer and a low, husky breath ghosted against his ear.

_I know that voice..._

"You don't want me to loose control, do you?"

Naruto's first instinct was to throw his head back and head-butt the freak, but all coherent thoughts left his mind when a leg pushed in between his and pressed upwards. His head fell against the wall and the low groan he made immediately got smothered by the hand still covering his mouth.

"You like that?"

He knew this guy. Where had he...?

Teeth graced the lobe of his ear and he shuddered involuntarily, feeling the lips of his assaulter widen in a smirk. The knee between his legs began moving in shallow circles against his groin at the same time as the hand covering his mouth released it's grip.

He tried to wriggle out of the grip on his arms again but only managed to make the knee rub against him even harder and it took all he had not to moan out loudly.

"Get off me!" he snarled and threw himself to the side in an attempt to get away, but the other's bodyweight kept him in place.

"Hey, did you hear me?! I said get the fuck off or I'll-!"

"You'll what?"

Naruto hissed when he suddenly got pushed harder against the wall in front of him and he heard the person behind him chuckle darkly.

"You'll kick me? Punch me?"

The hand that had been pressed against his mouth came to rest on the front of his hip and slipped a thumb underneath the hem of his trousers.

"I don' think you'll do any of those things... as a matter of fact..."

Naruto gasped for air when the thumb got joined by four other digits that pushed by his boxers and wrapped themselves around him, squeezing lightly.

"... I think you're just saying that to tick me off."

The hand began pumping his cock slowly and again Naruto couldn't help but to shudder from the feeling.

That voice...

Lips moved against his neck and up behind his ear, licking the skin with long strokes in time with the ones against his groin.

He couldn't move. He stranger had him completely trapped against the wall and by now his entire body had begun to shake.

_It's not because of him. I'm furious, shaking is completely normal. It has nothing to do with this... __what he's doing... __I has nothing... to do... nothing…_

His eyes clamped shut when an electric current shot up through his body and he groaned.

_It has nothing to do with- ah... h-him..._

"You're s-sick... perverted creep..." he panted out, gritting his teeth against the new wave of heat caused by the firm strokes over his now hard member.

"Am I now?"

The hand that had been holding his arms behind his back released him and trailed around his torso and slowly unzipped his jacket before continuing down to slip underneath his t-shirt.

"If I'm such a pervert, then how come you're still not getting ready to kick my ass like you said you would?"

Naruto's breath hitched at the feeling of cold hands against his skin, but he didn't move. He couldn't.

A new hiss broke out from between his lips when the pad of the other's thumb moved up to slowly rub over the slit of his cock and he felt the lips against his neck form into a smug grin.

"Hn. That's what I thought..."

Nail's raked against his chest, only stopping for a moment to play with and twist his nipples softly before continuing their abusive treatment.

He knew that he had to move. Every nerve in his body was screaming for him to move, but he just couldn't. _Wouldn't._

His breath started to grow ragged and shallow as the hand working him speeded up and he found that he was bracing himself against the wall with both hands, trying desperately to keep his moans put in his throat where they belonged. Although, his valiant attempt to keep quiet didn't go unnoticed and he cried out loudly when sharp teeth suddenly buried themselves in his shoulder.

"Who said you could hold anything back?"

A tongue lapped against the wound the teeth had caused, sending out dull throbs that pulsed their way through Naruto's veins.

"I wanna hear everything..."

The hand jerking him began moving faster, thrusting harder. Naruto's eyes rolled back in his head and he groaned loudly while bucking his hips into the touch from the sudden movement, and once that single moan made it out, the rest came flowing like water from a bursted dam.

Naruto was soon leaning against the wall, panting and moaning helplessly as hands roamed his body, sending torturous flashes of white light through his system.

The man behind him was pushing closer, breathing heavily against his neck while rocking and rubbing his own arousal against Naruto's backside.

"Fuck Naruto..."

The low groan sent tingles down Naruto's spine and he almost whimpered when he realised that he was rocking back to meet with the other's thrusts. _Enjoying_ them...

_This is sick. This is just so sick..._

The surging heat was building up inside him and he cringed when he realised that the guy was actually going to make him cum.

With a growl he reached down and grabbed the wrist of the hand pumping him to stop it, but the hurried grip only allowed him to slow it down somewhat.

"You're not... I'm not gonna...l-let you… bastard..."

He felt the body behind him stiffen momentarily, but then he heard the man chuckle before the hand underneath his shirt firmly tore his grip away, allowing the other hand to continue its work on his throbbing member, pumping harder and faster than before.

"You're not gonna _let_ me?" the voice hissed next to his ear. "You're still trying to convince yourself that this is something you don't _want_?"

"I-I... ah...ha... I j-just –ah!"

Naruto was loosing his ability to speak. His body was preventing him to think straight and he could feel his coherence melt away in time as his flushed body was approaching the climax.

It was sick. It was so completely wrong, but oh, god...

He was shuddering, trembling, moaning and panting desperate for release, deciding that he no longer cared about how he got it or from what, as long as it stopped this wild urge that was pumping through him.

"Just... d-do it..." he growled, moaning loudly when the other complied with his request without wasting a single moment.

He didn't care about the fact that it was a guy doing this to him, or even that it was a guy that he had a feeling that he knew from somewhere, he just... wanted to...

"I'm... I'm gonna… oh shit..."

He leaned his head against the wall, pushing his body back against the other, hearing his breath hitch.

Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him back and letting greedy lips latch on to his pulse with a strangled moan.

He was coming. Oh, yes... _yes_!

"You should have learned by now, Dobe..."

Naruto's eyes snapped open at the husky whisper being breathed against his skin.

_Dobe?_

"... I. Always. Win."

_Dobe?!_

"Sa-!"

He woke up with his breath hitching in his throat, choking on the name's first syllable as he sat up straight in his bed. Cerulean eyes flickered around the room while his still numbed brain tried to recall where he was and what the hell was going on while his lungs where doing their best in trying to suck in whatever air they could accommodate inside his chest.

After a couple of minutes of heavy panting, Naruto slowly returned to reality.

It was night. He was in his room, in his apartment. And he was alone.

With a relieved sigh he fell back down against his pillow again, dragging his hands over his face tiredly.

"_That_ was _sick.._." he mumbled between the fingers before letting his hands move up to pull through his hair.

It was damp. He had been sweating.

Damn it.

He sat up again and was about to reach down to pull away the covers when he felt it.

"Oh, _hell_ no!"

With a horrified yell he scrambled off the bed and hit the lights before turning around to stare at the slightly darker circle-shaped stain that was smudged out on the middle of his sheet.

Then, very slowly, he let his eyes trail from the bed and across the floor until finally allowing them to settle upon his own body.

"_Fuck_ no!"

* * *

**Okay, so I just realized that I've managed to cramp angst, friendship, fluff, tease, misunderstandings, jealousy _and_ smut into this chapter. I hope you're proud of me.**

**Next Chapter is The-Truth-Finally-Dawns-On-The-Usuratonkachi-Chapter.**

**Naruto's in for one hell of a wakeup-call...**

**Wait for it... Wait for it... (btw, this is me hypnotizing you) Wait for it... Wait for it!!**

* * *


	8. Wake Up Call

**Wake-Up Call!**

Naruto spent the following week trying his best to put Sasuke into situations where his feelings for Sakura would be put under the light.

But even if Naruto was as energetic and motivated as ever, the same could hardly be said about Sasuke...

Naruto had expected his friend to be happy for the opportunities Naruto was secretly presenting him with, but instead Sasuke just seemed to get more and more irritable as soon as Sakura got near him.

Sure, Naruto could understand that he was nervy to be around her, but c'mon!

Naruto once suggested that Sasuke would join him and Sakura at the library, which the raven did even though he mumbled something about having better things to do.

Naruto had waited until Sasuke had gotten somewhat comfortable next to Sakura at the table the three of them shared in the study hall before he made an excuse about going off to find a book he needed. He had then disappeared behind the bookshelves and left the two of them alone for about fifteen minutes before he peeked out behind the rows, only to find that the Teme had left and that the only one sitting by the table was a now very sour-looking Sakura.

He had no idea what Sasuke had said or done before he left, but Sakura's mood indicated that it certainly hadn't been anything that would earn him a politeness-award. The rest of his study-session that day had turned into a, least to say, most uncomfortable experience...

Of course he tried with the voodoo doll again, but since tripping the bastard only seemed to trigger his bad temper, Naruto quickly restrained himself from doing just that.

Trying to invite him to casual 'dates' with him and Sakura didn't work out either. When Naruto had asked Sasuke if he wanted to come with him and Sakura to Ichiraku's he had received such a cold look that he almost expected to freeze solid on the spot.

He just couldn't understand why the bastard was acting like such a jerk!

Sasuke had probably figured out what it was that Naruto was trying to do, but he should be grateful for that, not behaving like Naruto had just caused the entire world to fall apart!

In the end he had decided to change his tactics.

If he couldn't make Sasuke go to Sakura, then he would simply have to make Sakura come to Sasuke.

Said and done, he told Sakura to meet with him down town later that same afternoon, about five days since their return to the village, and he made it very clear that he had something very interesting to tell her. It had taken some time to convince her, but eventually she had given in and agreed to meet him.

Once they met up they casually began walking without heading for any place in particular while they talked about this and that.

Eventually they reached the bridge which had served as their rendezvous-point during their genin years where they stopped and leaned against the wooden railing to look down at the water streaming by underneath them.

"So..." Sakura kicked a gush of dirt into the water. "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Oh, that..." Naruto smiled and prepared himself to start the 'hinting'. He would have to go careful with this. He wanted Sakura to realise the truth about Sasuke's feelings on her own, otherwise it would be as if he tattled his best friend out and he didn't want that.

He turned around so that he was facing towards her and then he applied a very secretive look to his face which he completed with a mischievous smirk.

"You don't know do you?" he asked her, congratulating himself when Sakura's green eyes turned curious towards him.

"Don't I know what?" she asked and scowled a little.

Naruto's smirk widened and he grinned openly at her.

"You don't know!" he beamed and pointed at her teasingly.

"Don't I know _what_?!" Sakura looked at him completely dumbfounded, but instead of answering, Naruto just hummed to himself and turned towards the water again.

He really wanted her to know that _he_ knew something that _she_ didn't and that he wasn't going to tell her about it.

He could feel her eyes on him, but he wasn't turning around.

"Naruto, what is it that I don't know?" she thrummed her fingers against the solid wood next to his elbow, but he kept his eyes on the water.

"Oooh nothing. Just something that I heard."

He held back a snicker as he could mentally see how she stared at him and he could almost count down the seconds before he felt a very demanding hand grasp around his jacket and whirl him around.

"Uzumaki Naruto, if you don't tell me what it is you're grinning at right now this instant, I will pummel you into the water _through_ this bridge, do you hear me?!"

"Alright, alright, I will! I was just teasing!"

She let him go with a minor glare as he tried his best to look remorseful. Inside he was almost jumping in triumph over his success. Sakura was as curious as she could ever be, now all he had to do was to place out some very well thought out clues/lies and then lean back to watch the show. He had the story all planed out so that it would look as if he had acquired the information more by accident from some people he didn't know, so if she fell for it then he would have his back free.

"Well..." he took on his conspiracy-mask yet again and motioned to her with his index finger to come closer, which she did without a moment of hesitation.

"You see," he began, lowering his voice into a whisper. "I was in town the other day, and I was going down main street to Ichiraku's when..." He cut himself off.

He had just gotten the most unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What?" Sakura's voice was just as low as his had been and it was evident that he now had her full attention. He shook the feeling off, thinking that it was probably just nerves or something.

"I heard some people talking. They were walking almost alongside with me so I could hear everything they said. Do you know who they were talking about?"

There it was again! An icy cold feeling that seemed to drill its way right trough his head and then spread down his spine to lodge itself in his abs like a giant ice cube!

"No, who?"

Someone was watching him!

No, _staring_ at him!

He looked up to throw a quick look over his shoulder and was met with one of the most fierce, most brutal glares in the history of man kind.

Killing intent radiated from the fiery red eyes belonging to the raven standing where the bridge connected with the riverbank, looking as if he was just about ready to release Eternal Punishment of Hell on both of them.

Naruto met his eyes more by accident, but once their gazes locked with each other he found that he couldn't look away.

He had done something very, very stupid. That's what that look told him. Something very, very, _very_ stupid.

"Naruto, who were they talking about?" Sakura sounded as if she was beginning to get annoyed again, but Naruto barely heard her. He had his eyes locked with Sasuke's and he almost expected to see rays of lightning cross the sky and hear the distant rumble of thunder from the horizon.

_This is going to get ugly._

In the same moment the thought crossed his mind, Sasuke turned around and began walking away.

"Naruto!" Sakura stomped her foot into the ground with impatience and that suddenly woke Naruto up and he began moving.

"Sasuke!"

"Huh, Sasuke? Why would they be talking about...? Hey, Naruto, where are you going?!"

But Naruto wasn't listening. He was already halfway off the bridge, heading in the same direction as the raven had just disappeared to.

Oh, this was just great! Here he was trying to help the bastard out and he had to go and misunderstand everything! Naruto could only imagine how his and Sakura's conversation must've looked from Sasuke's point of view, standing so close to each other, leaning in on each other... God damn it, he why did he have to show up at a time like this?!

Now, here he was chasing after an Uchiha who was currently boiling over with jealousy, because _he_ though that Naruto was hitting on the girl of his dreams!

He turned around a corner and stared out over the people walking the street in search for his team mate.

He had to smooth this over. It had been _years_ since he had been interested in Sakura, he thought Sasuke knew that.

He spotted a glimpse of Sasuke's back as the other turned around another corner and disappeared into an alley and he quickened his steps.

"Hey, Sasuke!"

He called out the name in the same moment as he skidded into the alley and he managed to catch he sight of how the other stopped dead in the middle of a step at the sound of it.

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously and grinned, trying to look innocent.

"I though that it was you. What are you-...?"

"I'm busy, Dobe."

Naruto almost cringed at the sound of poison in his friend's voice. This could get worse than he had though.

"C'mon, you're always busy." He tried to sound carefree, but the words still came out strained. "Why don't you come and hang out with Sakura and me for a while?"

He immediately regretted asking when Sasuke's shoulders tensed and he turned his head to look at him coldly.

"Ehm... I mean, we could go do something, just the three of us. Just hang out. Or spar a little, what do you say?" There was deep silence.

"I know Sakura would want you to come." He tried, a little more pleading.

"Like I care what that bitch wants."

Naruto almost bit his own tongue off. _What_ did he say?!

Sasuke on the other hand looked as if he knew exactly what he had said.

"You go spar with her if you like. I've got better things to do."

He began walking again, showing that he had no intentions of continuing the conversation, but he didn't get far.

Before he had taken any more than three steps he found himself pushed up against the wall with Naruto's face barely an inch away from his own.

"Take it back." He growled.

"Take what back?" Sasuke snorted.

"That thing you called her. Take it back."

"Why? You don't want me to badmouth your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend and you know it!"

"Hn, really." Sasuke's voice was filled to the brim with fake interest and his eyes were still as cold as before.

"Yes, really. And what's with the attitude anyway? You've been acting like you've got a kunai shoved up your ass all week."

"None of your business."

Sasuke tried to shake the blonde off, but Naruto grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him harder against the wall.

"Like hell it's not my business! You've been acting like a total asshole towards me and now you're taking it out on Sakura as well? Tell me what the hell is going on here."

"I don't see why I have to explain myself to you."

Black and Blue engaged in a fearsome stare down, but when none of them were showing any signs of wavering Naruto eventually released Sasuke's shoulders and threw his own arms up in the air.

"Okay, fine, you win! You go ahead and insult your friends and treat them like crap, I don't care! There, are you happy?"

Sasuke didn't answer and Naruto sighed heavily and shook his head.

"I just don't get why you're doing this. I mean, c'mon... Can you really blame me for worrying?" He looked at his friend, but now Sasuke was looking away and avoiding his eyes.

"And this whole Sakura-thing... We've been friends for so long; you should know that I'm not interested in her, right? And she's not into me either, we're just friends. Besides, I happen to know for a fact that-..."

He was cut off when Sasuke suddenly shoved him backwards and knocked the air out of him when his back collided with the brick wall opposite the one he had been pushing Sasuke up against only moments earlier.

He opened his mouth to yell at the raven, asking him what the fuck he was doing, but when he looked up he was met with burning red Sharingan eyes and shut it again.

"You know _nothing_!" Sasuke snarled, once again shoving him backwards with his hands.

Naruto stared at the Uchiha and into the eyes looming over him, and he was vaguely aware of the fact that the other was shaking.

Slowly the Sharingan faded away and Sasuke lowered his head to the ground and took a deep, quivering breath before he let go of Naruto and turned away from him.

"You know nothing..." he repeated and then he started to walk away again.

This time Naruto let him leave, even thought he didn't want to. There was a thick atmosphere draped over the alley and somehow he felt that something important had just happened. Something that _required_ that he allowed Sasuke to leave.

Things had been left unsaid here, he knew that. The only question was; what?

Naruto slumped against the wall and sighed.

This match-making thing had turned out to be a bit more complicated than he had anticipated...

--

--

Stupid, Ignorant, Moronic, Blind, _Idiot_ Dobe...

Sasuke kicked a rock out of his way as he stalked up the path to his house.

"Just friends my ass..."

This last week had, literally, been hell on earth.

Ever since they got back from that god-awful mission, Naruto had done everything and anything but molest that pink haired excuse of a ninja.

He had been talking to her non-stop, insist on walking her everywhere, spending time with her in the library and now he was obviously sparring with her as well!

Somehow that ticked him off more than any of the other stuff had done.

Sparring sessions with Naruto was _his_ thing! _His_ job!

And to top it all off, Naruto had even asked him if he wanted to come along!

_Come_. _Along_!

And watch as the two of them were draping themselves over each other?

No thank you!

It hurt enough simply _knowing_ that they were doing that, he sure as hell didn't need to _watch_ it as well...

He put the key into the lock and unlocked the front door with an angry snap of his wrist and went inside.

The hallway was dark, Sasuke had never found any reason to put any lights there, and he walked inside without bothering to even mumble "tadaima" as he kicked his shoes off and continued into the next room.

The house was a traditional Japanese design and consisted of four sections.

First there was the hallway which widened out into a combined living room-kitchen area with two doors on the long side that led to the bathroom and his bedroom.

There used to be a wall that separate the kitchen from the living room, but that had been the first thing to go as he moved in. Walls only served as cover and hiding places for unwanted guests. He wanted to see the entire room as he walked in, not half of it. Plus it made the room lighter.

The room didn't contain any massive amount of furniture except for a low tea table and a cushion to sit on. On the short end of the room there was a screen wall that led out to the porch and garden at the back of the house and while contemplating on if he should go straight to bed or not that's where he eventually made his way to.

It was late and the trees were already throwing long shadows over the garden along with the golden red light from the setting sun. Evening birds were singing happily all around, perfecting the tranquil image, making Sasuke wishing they would all just drop dead.

Sitting down on the edge of the porch he slowly dragged his hands through his hair and groaned.

His life had most efficiently crumbled into smithereens ever since that day at the hot springs.

He still couldn't believe that he had actually thought that Naruto would be cool with it!

He should have known that the moron was just misunderstanding everything. And now the blonde was obviously reverting to the same Sakura-worshiping he had practiced when they were younger, only this time it seemed as if he was going all in on it.

It wasn't fair!

Angrily he picked up one of the many white rocks lying at his feet and threw it into the bushes on the far side of the garden, stirring up some birds from the flourishing branches.

Why her?!

What the hell was it that Naruto found so attractive about _her_?!

She was hot tempered, violent, had absolutely no curves whatsoever, was the owner of the widest forehead in Konoha _and_ on top of it all; she was a _girl_!

Had Naruto been flirting around with another guy then at least Sasuke could have had a chance in winning him over, but of course, it had to be a girl.

It just had to be _Sakura_.

Of all the things, that was probably the worst part.

Any other girl and Sasuke could have happily spent his days hating her guts, but this was Sakura and despite the things he had called her, he couldn't hate her.

Dislike tremendously perhaps, but never hate. They had too much of a past for that.

He let out a snorted laughter.

Love didn't even grant him that comfort.

Love, he concluded, was a pain in the ass which Sasuke had been disarmed, captured, cuffed, gagged and royally screwed over by.

He leaned forward and picked up a new rock to throw, but instead of hurling it through the air he ended up just rolling it in the palm of his hand.

"She's not even pretty..." he grumbled and looked down at the rock.

To be completely honest, right now the last member of the Uchiha clan felt like crawling into a crack in the wall somewhere and just die.

Naruto was as straight as a guy could be, while Sasuke had become very much aware of his own sexual nature before he even left for Sound. Realising who that sexual nature had decided to aim itself at however came much later, and boy what a wakeup call _that_ had been...

Imagine, you're sitting by the camp fire with your best friend and the topic of something as harmless as taijutsu techniques comes up, and all of a sudden images of _you_ pinning said best friend to the ground, using techniques that certainly doesn't have anything to do with taijutsu flashes through your head.

And you _like_ it.

Okay, so it could have been hormones going on a temporary rampage, but for fuck sakes, a rampage doesn't carry on for three god damn years!

Missions turned into a mix of bliss and torture, but somehow he had managed to live through it, using a mantra of denial which he kept repeating in his mind, over and over and over again.

And then now, out of nowhere, Naruto had begun doing all these... _things_.

These weird, non-usual-Naruto _things_!

So now the bliss and torture were back, only without the bliss-part this time.

Sighing deeply he laid back onto the wooden floor of the porch and started up at the sky.

The stone was still being rolled around absentmindedly in the palm of his hand, but of course, Sasuke was no longer aware.

Staring out over the darkening garden, he recalled the many odd things the blonde had been up to the last pair of days and scowled.

What was the moron thinking?

--

--

What was the bastard thinking?!

Naruto flung himself down on his bed and glared up at the ceiling.

Walking around, being all grouchy and broody, how did he expect Sakura to notice him that way?!

And what was it with all the insults? Sure, Sakura had fallen for the whole 'bad-boy' thing before, but that's no reason to overdo it!

He was ruining everything!

He reached over and grabbed the voodoo doll that was lying on his bedside table and sent a glare at it. The doll returned it with a blank, glassy look from its marble eyes.

Naruto resisted the urge to flick the doll's head with his index finger, thinking that it might earn him a headless team mate and instead settled with tossing it to the side onto one of the pillows next to his head before yawning widely.

He was so tired.

Sleep last night had been a bit hard to achieve after that screwed up dream he had.

First he had been forced to change his beddings which took quite a while and the he simply couldn't go back to sleep.

Images of the darn dream had kept preventing him from relaxing, so instead he had spent the night cleaning his apartment just to keep his mind on something else.

He knew that it was still too early to go to sleep, but he needed to get a bit of a shut eye.

_Just a couple of minutes..._

In the next moment he was fast asleep.

Now, anybody who had ever seen Uzumaki Naruto sleep knew that the boy certainly didn't sleep like any other human being on the planet.

First of all, he fell asleep _fast_, and once he was asleep there were simply no guarantees on what his dormant would do.

Within the following ten minutes he had turned, twisted, thrown, rolled around and shifted his sleeping position about fifty times before he finally settled with laying flat on his stomach with one arm underneath the pillow with the other stretched out next to his body like a defect L-bar.

His breathing finally went down to normal and evened out into a steady, peaceful rhythm, sending small gushes of warm air... onto the voodoo doll next to his head.

--

--

Sasuke was just about to fall asleep, still lying on the floorboards of his porch, when a sudden warm breeze ghosted over his body and made him shiver lightly.

He opened a lazy eye and looked up at the trees that were now standing like black giants against the almost completely set sun, enclosing his garden and protecting it from unwanted insight. The wind was making the leaves rustle gently, creating a smooth whispering sound in the air and as he watched the treetops a new warm gush of air brushed against his skin and he shivered again.

He vaguely remembered that he had been about to dream something, or maybe he had already begun dreaming? Slowly he sat up and leaned his back against one of the wooden pillars that served as support for the roof, leaning his head back against the solid timber and sighed.

He hated it when he couldn't remember what he was dreaming. Mostly because he might miss out a chance to relish in a Naruto dream simply by waking up before it even had the chance to get interesting.

Naruto dreams always turned out to be interesting.

He smirked in spite of himself and felt a light whirl in his abdomen.

Oh yes, quite interesting indeed...

Fleeting images of moist, tanned skin drifted through his mind and Sasuke's smirk widened.

The mental image of Naruto let out a small groan that instantly turned the minor swirl in the raven's stomach into an entire vortex.

The wind gently ruffled his hair and almost seemed to seep through his clothes and flow over his skin, giving him goose bumps that made every single hair on his body stand on end.

He could feel how the unfamiliar sensation along with the thought of a half-naked, groaning Naruto made the fabric of his trousers grow tighter over his groin as his manhood wasted no time in responding.

First he thought about if maybe he should go inside and have a cold shower to get rid of his problem, but then a new breath of air fluttered over him and he decided that he might as well take advantage of the sudden pleasurable situation.

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't the kind of person who used to pleasure himself on a steady basis, unconsciously thinking of it as lack of willpower to do so, but there were days just like any other human days when problems like these just couldn't be ignored.

He resolutely grabbed the hem of his black shirt and pulled it of and threw it aside. He didn't like to masturbate with his clothes on. It was uncomfortable and he really didn't want to spend the night washing off stains from the dark fabric.

Letting his hand drag over his now naked chest he let it come to a rest on the now evident bulge in his trousers and applied some pressure on it with the palm of his hand while moving it in shallow circles. The wind that now had free access to his skin sent shivers up and down his spine and he soon unzipped his trousers and pulled them of along with his boxer to let them join the previously disposed shirt.

Completely naked, he leaned his head back against the wooden pillar and felt his breath hitch when his hand closed around the hard flesh and as he let the pad of his thumb putt pressure on and trace along the vein on the bottom of his cock he recalled the memory of Naruto's lean and sweat soaked body from their way home. That single drop of sweat trickling down a tanned neck, the sound of a satisfied sigh, slightly parted lips, the whisper of his name, hands against his body...

The fantasy was slowly taking over and Sasuke began moving his hand over his length in slow, steady strokes, feeling sparks of pleasure lighting in his stomach and travel up his spine.

He continued to let his free hand roam from his chest to right below his hips, varying the pressure from his fingertips and sometimes letting the blunt nails scrape against the sensitive skin on his inner thigh.

The wind seemed to sweep over him and with his eyes closed it was almost too easy to pretend that it was Naruto who was hovering over his body, breathing against his skin as he let his hands travel and locate every single sweet spot he could find...

He could almost see it as clear as if the blonde had been kneeling right in front of him, blue eyes locked with his and those delicious, pink lips curled up in a mischievous smile as he slowly _let four fingers trace along his hipbone, smirking a little wider as Sasuke's breath hitched. _

'_Mmm, sensitive spot huh...?' _

_And then he would do it again, just to be a tease and Sasuke would try to tell him to knock it off, but he wouldn't get that far because then the blonde would lean forward and take the tip of his cock into his mouth and suck on it, making Sasuke's eyes roll back in his head out of he sudden stimulus._

'_Fuck, Sasuke, you know I could do this to you forever...'_

_Moaning, he would try to reply, but the only thing coming out of his mouth were broken syllables that got interrupted by pants and groans._

_The tip of Naruto's tongue swirled around the head and only stopped to make quick dips inside the slit, licking up the pre-cum that had begun to leak out... _

He willed himself to interrupt the stroking on his length and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was reaching the peak way too fast to his liking and if he didn't stop he would finish before he even had the time to start.

He had heard that masturbating outside would be different from doing it indoors, but this was nothing like he had imagined it to be. The sun was as good as gone now and the air had turned cold around him, but for some reason that he couldn't understand the wind was still warm.

It almost felt as if the wind itself was urging him on, whispering small words of encouragement through the pores of his skin, making the blood pump faster through his veins.

'_Don't you want me, Sasuke?' _

_The tongue left him and was replaced with a slick hand, fingers wrapping around him and moving slowly up and down. _

'_You're holding back on me.'_

_Slow... too slow..._

'_Why do you do that, hmm?'_

_Faster... had to be faster._

Oh God, he would never be able to hold back for much longer. His hand had gone rebellious on his brain and no matter how much he tried to force himself to go slower, his hand just kept increasing its speed. Electrical currents were streaming through his body and his legs began twitching as he got closer to the point of no return.

Then, out of nowhere, he felt as if someone had sneaked up behind him and let their hands softly run down his spine, sending such a wild tremor through his frame that white dots danced in front of his eyes, and then his mind simply blanked out.

Heat engulfed every cell in his body and his eyes clamped shut, filled with blinding, hot light that seeped into his brain and erased all of his communication with the surrounding world.

It could have lasted for a couple of seconds, or maybe years, he couldn't tell and then it was gone and he was left panting heavily in the after glow.

--

--

Moments before Sasuke experienced one of the most powerful orgasms in his entire life, Naruto began dreaming. He made a violent throw with his head and for a split second a single strand of his hair brushed against the voodoo doll's back, but then he turned his head back to where it had been before and left the doll alone on the pillow next to him.

In his dream he was walking across a meadow that seemed to stretch from one horizon to the other underneath a sky so blue it almost hurt to watch it for too long.

At first he thought he was alone, but soon he saw that Sakura was walking alongside with him, talking cheerfully about something Naruto couldn't quite follow. He was just about to open his mouth and ask Sakura if she knew where they were, when he looked up and saw Sasuke standing a couple of feet away and glaring at them and he froze. Somehow he knew that he shouldn't be walking so close to Sakura, but for some reason he couldn't recall why.

As he watched, Sasuke turned around and started walking away and he made an attempt to hurry after him, but couldn't.

He looked to his side and saw that Sakura was now clinging to his arm, preventing him to move, still talking as if she had not seen Sasuke at all.

He tried to pry her off, but it was like trying to pry of a human-sized leach.

Desperately he saw that Sasuke had already disappeared quite far and began dragging both himself and the blabbering girl in the same direction.

He had to tell Sasuke that this wasn't what it looked like, that it was a misunderstanding!

He had no idea what "it" was or what the misunderstanding could be, he just knew that it was bad. The look on Sasuke's face had said it all.

Somehow he managed to catch up with the raven and he reached out a hand to grab him and spin him around, when a violent tug on his other arm almost made him loose his balance.

"Stay away from her!" Sakura growled at him and when he looked back to the place where Sasuke had been, he saw Sakura standing there instead, heading away from them.

"You don't belong to her, dobe."

Naruto turned his head and saw that Sasuke was now standing next to him, with a firm, almost painful grip around his upper arm.

"Sasuke?"

Sharingan was blazing at him, and he swallowed hard.

"Sasuke, it's not what you think..."

"Hn, really."

Sasuke pulled him closer, still just holding him with one hand by the arm and he leaned in and hissed at him.

"I trusted you."

"But I-..."

"You thought I wouldn't notice, huh? Thought that I wouldn't _care_?"

His voice was low, hardly more than a whisper but it trembled with the same suppressed anger that was shining through the crimson in his eyes.

"Sasuke, I've never-...!"

"Don't. Just forget it."

The raven let go of his arm and began walking away, and Naruto again reached out a hand to stop him.

"Sasuke, wait!"

The moment his fingers came in contact with the fabric of Sasuke's clothes, the Uchiha spun around and gave him a hard shove in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

Naruto braced himself for the hard impact he soon would have with the ground beneath him, but instead he experienced the horrible feeling of _falling_ and he saw Sasuke disappear above him, as if he was falling through the ground, falling _inside_ the ground and he desperately flailed his arms to find something to hold on to.

He barely had time to wonder if he would die when he landed, _if_ he landed, when the breath suddenly got knocked out of him when his back collided with the ground.

Gasping for breath he snapped his eyes open and found himself lying on the floor of his bedroom with the moon enlightened ceiling above him.

The first breath hurt like hell and he let out a strangled groan as he tried to raise his arm and grab hold of the edge of the bed to haul himself up.

Clinging to the frame of the bed like a drowning clinging to a life raft he managed to get up in a sitting position and took a new shaky breath.

"God damn it..." he wheezed out, mostly because he wanted to check if he still had the ability to perform sounds at all.

Reaching around to rub his aching back he groaned again.

How come, every time he tried to sleep, he'd wake up with that bastards face still fresh in mind before even half the night had passed?

Not only did the Uchiha make his awake time a hell, now he had to mess up his sleep too?

Breathing in deeply he turned his head to the side to glare at the spot on the floor where he had landed and felt his blood run cold.

_Oh shit..._

On the floor, exactly where his body had slammed against the wooden boards, was the voodoo doll.

Flattened.

Naruto stared at it. He stared at it for a long, long time without even blinking.

After what felt like an eternity, he managed to swallow.

The voodoo doll's chest looked completely crushed and its nose had adopted a shape very similar to a pug's nose.

It looked very painful and the implication the doll's current state sent to Naruto's suddenly wide-awake mind was extremely clear;

He had killed his best friend.

Squished him like a bug.

Just like that.

_I killed Sasuke_.

It took a while for it to sink in completely, and then he leaped up from the floor, ignoring the pain shooting up through his back and bolted towards the door as fast as his legs would carry him.

--

--

Well, that had been something... different.

Sasuke just stepped out of the bathroom, followed closely by the steam from his recent shower, towelling his hair roughly and with another towel loosely wrapper around his waist.

Glancing out on the dark porch he mad his way into his bedroom and dropped down onto the bed.

He would have to be careful, or he just might grow addicted to that. What a rush!

As he had tried to stand and walk inside the house his legs had felt like jelly and his head had been swirling almost as if he had been drunk.

If that's what masturbating outside felt like, he definitely understood why people got caught so often making out and having sex outdoors. (Well, not that he had seen anyone personally, but he had heard of them.)

If touching yourself gave you such a trip, then he couldn't even imagine what someone else's touch might feel like.

_Naruto and I will have to try that later sometime..._ he smirked, but then reality dropped back down on him again and he remembered why he had been out on the porch in the first place.

Silly Sasuke. There would never be a 'Naruto and I'.

He got of the bed and tossed his towel over the back of a chair standing in the far corner of the room and then he walked up to his bedroom door, closed it and locked it.

It had been years since his return to Konoha and during those first months of his return his days had been filled with people threatening to 'deal with him' as soon as they got the chance. In the beginning he had thought it to be all talk and no action, but after coming across a man hiding in his bedroom ready to stab him as he walked in he had begun to lock his doors.

It would never stop a thief or an ANBU of course, but at least it kept the commoners out.

Trying to fall asleep when you constantly got interrupted by people trying to kill you could be somewhat annoying.

But, the main reason to why he had kept the door and window locked to keep people out was so that _he_ accidentally wouldn't kill someone else.

After a life where you constantly expected to get stabbed in the back his reflexes and awareness of his surroundings had reached an almost frightening level.

If someone would actually make it all the way to his bed, there was a high risk that he might kill the person before he even had the time to wake up properly.

He had returned to be a citizen of Konoha, but technically he had still been on probation back then. One slip and he would have gone back to be a missing-nin again.

He wasn't going to risk that.

The attempted assassinations stopped after only half a year and after that he was left completely alone. The habit of locking his door at night however did not stop. He had tried, but it was like a ritual and he just couldn't fall asleep without the door closed and secured. It was stupid, he knew that, but after a couple of sleepless nights he picked up on the locking again, and the problem was solved. Compulsive behaviour anyone?

Walking over to check the window he then laid down on the bed once again and sighed.

Unlike when he was out on missions, when he was at home Sasuke always slept on his back, not his side. Just like locking the door, his position was vital for him to fall asleep and he could lay awake for hours just to find that he had his head tilted the wrong way and thus couldn't sleep.

God, sometimes he just hated his life...

A couple of minutes of fruitless staring into the ceiling he felt his eyelids begin to drop and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath...

... and felt himself getting crushed.

It was as if someone had suddenly thrown their entire bodyweight on him. No, it felt as if someone had dropped a god damn _elephant _on him!

All air got rammed out of his lungs in one single blow and his chest was crushing down so hard he thought his ribs were going to break. His face felt like the time Sakura had managed to land a direct hit on his jaw when she wasn't holding back, which meant pain all over. He couldn't breathe, his lungs were shrinking by the second, his head was beginning to spin and black spots were clouding his vision...

Then, just as fast as it came, it was gone.

Still choking on his breath Sasuke reached underneath his pillow and pulled out a kunai and leaped off the bed in one fluid motion and stared wild-eyed around the room, not quite sure what the hell he would find. The result was disappointing.

The room was empty.

Walking backwards he managed to grab a pair of boxers from the chair in the corner and pulled them on with one hand, still holding the kunai out in front of him and letting his eyes travel over each and every shadow in the room.

He had no idea what that shit had been just now, but it sure had _felt_ like a serious attempt to hurt him. No pissed of farmer barging in armed with a sickle and a righteousness-complex this time, no, this was different.

Every breath he took hurt like hell and he carefully traced his hand over the ribs to check if anything was broken, but found nothing. Reaching up to carefully touch his face, he hissed when the digits made contact with a very sore nose and he cursed under his breath. His pulse was relentlessly begging for attention in the back of his head, but he ignored it in the same way he was ignoring the wild thumps of his adrenaline-pumping heart.

Obviously it had been some kind of jutsu, because the pressure had been spread even all over his body. Jutsus couldn't be thrown through walls, doors or glass, which meant that the person who threw it must've been standing _in_ the room as they did it, which meant... that there was someone in his house.

With suspicious, narrowed eyes he scanned his bedroom, searching for any sign or movement in the dusk light shining in through the window from the night sky outside. Except for his own presence, the room seemed to be empty. The door that led out into the combined living room/kitchen was still locked from the inside, the single window would have taken too long to open and escape through, which left only on option...

With quiet steps he began approaching the door leading to the small walk-in closet and on his way he switched on the lamp by his bed. If the intruder was in there then he wanted to be able to have a good look on his face before he got the chance to split. The hand grabbing the kunai tightened its grip and when Sasuke silently placed his free hand on the door handle it brought the blade up, preparing to slash down on whatever person was hiding inside.

He took a deep, focusing breath and then he tore the door open with the astonishing speed of a deadly viper only to the freeze in the middle of his movement and stare sheepishly inside the doorframe.

The closet, as well... was empty.

He blinked.

...

Nope, still empty.

Except for his clothes who had just barely escaped a certain, vicious death by stabbing.

He quickly lowered the kunai, suddenly feeling extremely stupid. Of course, if his door was still locked and no one was there except for him, the person must've used a teleportation jutsu to get in and out unnoticed.

Luckily no one had been there to see his little stalker-move. _That_ would have been _really_ embarrassing...

--

--

Naruto's legs were aching, his heart was running wild in his chest, his breath clawing it's way up his throat, his mind gone completely numb with only the thought of reaching Sasuke's house as fast as he possibly could.

As the path led him over the dark rooftops different images of what he might find kept intruding on his mental vision.

There had to be blood of course, lots of blood. Maybe even entrails, splashed out on the walls, dripping down from the furniture and windows in long wet stripes... Or had he simply gone flat, just like the doll? No, blood would be inevitable. Inevitable as fucking _amen_ in fucking _church_, inevitable!

Oh God, what ha he done? What had he _done_?!

It was clear that Naruto was extremely upset at the moment, so then perhaps it was understandable that when he came jumping through the trees bordering the house in question and saw his team-mate standing, very much alive, in the middle of his bedroom, Naruto's eyes went wide as saucepans and then he slammed head-first right into an oak.

Luckily for him, he landed on a branch further down, so he didn't have to suffer that much, but he still got his breath knocked out of him for the second time that night and that wasn't something he'd like to categorize under "very pleasant".

However, right now Naruto had his interest fixed on something completely different than his own physical pain.

Sasuke was alive?

He managed to climb back up to were he had free vision into what he supposed to be Sasuke's bedroom, and yes, the Teme was standing upright and seemed to be very much alive and alert.

As a matter of fact, perhaps a little bit _too_ alert... And what the hell was he doing with that kunai?!

Naruto watched as the raven inside the house made a stealthy advance across the room, dressed in only a pair of black boxers and a kunai held closely to his side. Even in the odd situation Naruto couldn't help but to marvel at the suppleness the other moved with. Like a cat sneaking up on a mouse. Thanks to the lamp lit by the bed Naruto had no trouble making out the fine lines of the other male's lean muscles, and somewhere deep inside of him something stirred. But he didn't get time to contemplate on what it could be, because then Sasuke suddenly leaped forward and tore one of the doors on the other side of the room open, raising the weapon to deliver what looked like a lethal stab, and then he just froze.

Naruto leaned a little bit to the right so that he could see further into the room and discovered that the door Sasuke had flung open was in fact the door to a small closet.

What on earth was he _doing_?

Naruto couldn't see the other's face, but the sudden slouch of the shoulders and lowering of the kunai indicated that whatever Sasuke had expected to find inside the closet, it wasn't there.

He watched as Sasuke closed the door, looking around as if he was afraid that someone might have seen him and the sight made Naruto snort with laughter. To actually catch the Uchiha in the act doing something _not_ considered as 'cool' was something he had been wishing to do for years now. Too bad he wouldn't be able to give the bastard a rough time about it later...

Sasuke looked around once more and then Naruto saw him walk up and, believe it or not, _unlock_ his bedroom door and go into the next room. He could see the lights coming on one by one as the raven appeared to be searching the house and slowly Naruto began putting the pieces together.

It was late, and by the looks of Sasuke's lack of attire and ruffled hair, the bastard had been asleep when Naruto fell on the doll. Exactly _why¤_ he wasn't lying squashed flat in the bed he had no idea, but apparently the pressure hadn't been enough to do any serious damage. So, Sasuke's asleep, and then suddenly gets a whole load of Naruto dumped on him, wakes up and then... searches the house for potential attackers, from the looks of it.

Naruto almost began laughing again. Now that the overhanging threat of a dead Sasuke was gone, he couldn't help but to wish that he had been able to see the look on the Teme's face when he fell on him. Oh, the laughs.

After a while Sasuke returned to his bedroom, checked it again (he even looked underneath the bed, an action that almost made Naruto double over from withheld laughter) and then _relocked_ the door and went to sit down in a chair standing in a corner of the room, not looking as if he was planning to go back to sleep any time soon.

Naruto continued to watch him from his location in the tree, not really knowing why he was staying since Sasuke obviously wasn't about to drop dead anymore.

There was just something about seeing him like this that fascinated him. Being at home, he seemed to be moving completely different than from what he used to when he was out on missions. Less tense somehow.

Even his face was different. His jaw was relaxed, the scowl was gone, he wasn't wearing one of those look-at-me-wrong-and-I-rip-your-head-off glares and for the first time in his life Naruto could actually understand what it was about the last Uchiha that the girls found so attractive.

Sasuke was actually beautiful. Not in the feminine way, but in a raw, untamed way. Unconsciously Naruto's eyes drifted to look out over the garden on the back of the house. No gardener had set foot in there for many years. No one had dug out the pond or built up the miniature waterfall or planted the flowers, they just were. Interfering and trying to change as much as one of them would only destroy the beauty of the entire garden.

He went back to look at the young man inside the house. His head was leaned back now and his naked chest was rising and falling rhythmically, but Naruto knew that Sasuke wasn't sleeping. At least not yet.

It was funny how he could tell something like that just by looking in through a window, but he supposed he just knew him that way.

The girls of Konoha didn't.

They fell in love with the possibilities, they wanted to change him, sculpt him to fit into the design of a perfect boyfriend. They couldn't see how beautiful he was just like this.

Vaguely Naruto wondered if Sakura was one of those girls as well, but he resolutely shook his head. Of course she wasn't. Not anymore.

She had had known him just as long as Naruto had. They had fought together, fought each other, hoped, dreamed and lived together. Sakura was there when Sasuke tried to kill them; Sakura was there when they tried to bring him back. Sakura was there when he returned, and Sakura _knew_ that Uchiha Sasuke could not be changed by force.

If there was any girl in Konoha who would ever be able to understand what Sasuke was like, it was Sakura.

He jumped out of the tree and brushed his hands off on his trousers before he began heading home with resolute steps.

This silly game had to end, and if Sasuke wasn't going to participate and come clean, then by the love of God, Naruto was going to force him.

He just needed to check some stuff at home and then he would end this stupid goose-hunt _tomorrow_.

--

--

Ten minutes after Konoha's library opened up their doors for the day, Uchiha Sasuke was already wandering between the rows of books, loading up on volume after volume of every possible jutsu he could find.

Someone had been at his house last night and he was planning on finding out _who_.

Dumping the load on a growing pile of books in the middle of a table in the study hall, he then began reading.

He had absolutely no idea of what he was looking for, and some of the things he found were simply laughable. Like a jutsu for how to turn yourself into a piece of furniture. Probably supposed to be a spying-technique, but honestly, weren't there any easier ways to spy on somebody than to turn yourself into a blue, wide-striped couch?

Eventually, after almost an hours search, he had finally found something out of use.

An invisibility jutsu.

However, it required a whole lot of chakra to maintain a state of invisibility, otherwise parts of you might start to show up a little here and there. A ninja without the capability to gather and then send their chakra out to cloak their body in an even pulse would only become partially invisible. A lonely foot walking down the street accompanied by a soaring head wouldn't be a very effective cloaking spell...

Which meant that if the person who was in his house last night used the invisibility justu, he could limit his search to jounin-level or higher.

Any other jutsu that allowed you to teleport, shrink, walk through walls and other useful stuff all required great amounts of chakra and good chakra control anyway so...

Feeling as if he had emptied the library's resources for one day he put the books back where he had found them and then he left, pondering on where he would begin the search of his mystery attacker.

--

--

Naruto had waited outside Sasuke's house the entire morning and followed him to the library, going through the plan in his head for probably the hundredth time.

As the Uchiha now re-emerged from the shadowy confines of the big building and began heading down the main street, Naruto carefully began following him, using nearby backstreets and alleys to stay out of sight.

He knew for a fact that Sakura was going to return from her night shift at the hospital right about now (in his attempts in trying to get her and Sasuke to bump into each other he had ended up memorising her schedule), and here he had the bastard walking casually down the very same street she'd be using. If faith was on his side, this would go right according to his plan.

He reached down and touched the voodoo doll through the fabric of his trousers to make sure it was still there and then he smirked.

He would have to wait until the exact right moment, or the Teme would suspect something too soon and then he'd probably split.

On the other side of the street, Sasuke were still keeping a steady pace, looking rather feisty, but that was something Naruto didn't give any major attention to. Sasuke always looked feisty.

Then Naruto's attention got roughly pulled away from Sasuke and settled on a glimpse of pink hair that came moving towards the spot where Sasuke was and he curled up behind a barrel next to an alley entrance and pulled up the doll.

Sakura spotted Sasuke almost immediately and Naruto saw her raise a hand to greet him and how she walked up to him with a wide smile on her face, but he did _not_ notice the murderous intent that the Uchiha began to radiate at the sight of the kunoichi.

Placing the voodoo doll on his knee he then made the following hand seals; Sheep, Rat, Snake, Bird, Sheep and after that he pressed his right index and middle finger against the doll's mouth and whispered;

"Shinjitsu no jutsu."

There was a soft tingle in the fingertips and he grinned widely.

From this moment on, as soon as Sasuke was asked a direct question, he would have to answer truthfully. The very first _true_ thought that appeared in his head, the jutsu would make him say – with no exceptions.

He quickly shoved the doll back into his pocket and then he peered out from behind the barrel at his two friends.

He couldn't wait to hear this.

--

--

As soon as Sasuke heard Sakura's voice, he had to restrain himself from throwing a kunai at her. Right now, that girl was the last person he wanted to talk to, or even look at for that matter.

However, the personal desires and requests of Uchiha Sasuke were completely unknown to the other girl, so she fired of the brightest smile she could muster, thinking that Sasuke looked like he needed a little pick-me-up.

"Ohayoo, Sasuke-kun. You're up early today." She greeted.

For a moment he thought about giving her a glare and walk away, but he knew that Naruto would go nuts on him if he found out that he did that so he decided to play somewhat nice for at least a couple of sentences...

"Not earlier than usual." He replied without any greater enthusiasm.

If Sakura noticed that he wasn't in a good mood, she didn't show it cause she just kept smiling at him and nodded in agreement.

"Ah, I forgot, you're always up early. I know Naruto's mentioned it once or twice."

Sasuke's face clouded up slightly at the comment. He didn't want to be reminded of the two of them talking or doing _anything_ together.

Sakura noticed the sudden scowl that appeared on his face and her smile faded a little.

"What, did the two of you have a fight again?" she asked.

"Hn, not physically." He snorted.

"I thought so." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him. "You two have been acting strange around each other all week. What did-...?"

"It's nothing serious." Sasuke interrupted her. He had no intentions of discussing his emotional issues with the very same person who was responsible for most of them.

"The Dobe's just being stubborn."

"Sasuke, I don't think-..."

"I've got stuff to do." He said loudly. "I'll see you around."

He took a step to the side in an attempt to walk around her, but he didn't get more than two steps until she grabbed his lower arm to stop him.

"Hey, Sasuke. I was just wondering..."

He looked at her, thinking for probably the millionth time how much better her head would look if it wasn't attached to her body.

"Yes?"

Maybe she intercepted the cold tone of murder in his voice, because she quickly removed her hand from his arm, but when she looked at him she was still smiling.

"Well, I was thinking...Would you like to get together sometime?"

He snorted and began walking again. He sure as hell wasn't going to answer that question.

"The only one I'd like to 'get together' with is Naruto."

His eyes widened and he stopped mid-step.

_What the hell did I just say?_

"Oh..." Sakura sounded a bit confused. "Then why don't you?"

"Because I think he'll say no."

_Wait, what am I doing?!_

"Have you asked him?"

"No."

_Why do I keep answering her?!_

He hurriedly started to walk away again, but to his horror Sakura followed him.

"Then how do you know he doesn't want to?" she enquired.

"I don't."

_God damn it, why couldn't she _shut up_?!_

"Then what makes you think he wouldn't want to? You're best friends!"

"Because he'll think I'm a freak."

_Oh for the love of God!_

"Why?"

"Because I love him."

He stopped.

_I did _not_ just say that. I did _not_ just fucking _say _that!_

He stared over his shoulder at Sakura who stared right back at him at him and he held his breath in waiting for the horrified reaction he was sure would come.

Instead, she suddenly giggled at him and placed her hand over her chest in acted relief.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. For a moment there I thought you were talking about something else. I assume that you meant brotherly love, right?"

"No."

This time he forcefully slapped his hand in front of his mouth with a loud gasp.

What happened with the non-caring "Hn, whatever" that he had been planning to say?!

Sakura stared at him again, only this time she didn't laugh. She took a step closer to him and gave his face a concerned look.

"You're face looks a little bruised... Sasuke-kun, are you feeling alright?"

_Yes! Yes! Say yes!_  
"No."

_Fuck!_

Sasuke's mind was crumbling. Something was wrong. Oh, so horribly wrong.

That bastard from last night had done something to him!

"I have to go..." he hissed.

"But Sasuke-..."

"No!"

Sakura pulled her outstretched hand back and stared in confusion as Sasuke began backing away from her. His eyes darted from one side of the street to the other and he was breathing between gritted teeth like a cornered animal.

"You just stay away from me..."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something more, but the moment she did Sasuke forcefully slammed his hands over his ears, not caring about how stupid it must look, turned on his heels and ran, leaving her completely dumbfounded in the middle of the street.

He barely looked at where he was going, only focusing on getting away from the crowd on the street as soon as possible. Someone bumped into him and almost made him loose his balance and he barely registered a voice grumble that he should watch were he was going.

Thoughts were scrambling around in his head but one thought constantly manifested itself over the others, screaming up at him in bold, capital letters like the headlines of a newspaper.

He couldn't lie.

He couldn't. God. Damn. _Lie_!

--

--

Naruto never saw Sasuke leave.

He didn't even hear him yell at Sakura to stay away from him.

The moment that single, fatal word was uttered, Naruto's entire world froze.

He kept looking as Sasuke desperately tried to cover up what he had said, but in Naruto's case it didn't do any good because in contrast to Sakura, he _knew_.

_The very first _true_ thought_.

_No exceptions._

Some time later when his brain registered that both Sasuke and Sakura were gone, he got up and shaky legs and leaned heavily against the brick wall, using the barrel he had been hiding behind for support.

He had been so stupid...

His hand slowly travelled down to his left pocket and when his fingers finally found and wrapped around the soft plushie inside it all slowly began to sink in.

"Oh my God..." he whispered hoarsely.

Suddenly his legs weren't enough to keep him standing and he slowly slid down with his back against the wall until he was sitting again, his eyes staring out into space in front of him.

"Oh my _God_..."

* * *

--

**¤The explanation is actually quite simple. If Naruto fell on Sasuke in real life, would that render him flat like a pancake? No, didn't think so.**

**Just imagine what would happen if he accidentally sat on the doll while carrying it in his pocket if that was the case...**

--

_And Naruto's complete reaction?_

_Well, you'll get that in the next chappie._

_Review please!_

* * *


	9. The Truth

**The Truth**

It was a very shaky blonde who slowly made his way through Konoha back to his apartment. Later on he could not recall how he got there or when he unlocked to door and stepped inside, but once he closed the door behind him every mental barrier his shocked brain had built up suddenly bursted and panic was declared.

He managed to let out a sound that reminded very much of a cat getting strangled before the memories began to flood his mind, turning into a vortex that began spinning faster and faster.

Bits and pieces of conversations from the past two weeks swirled around each other in a blur of voices and unexpressed feelings that suddenly felt as clear as if they had been printed on a piece of paper.

"_So, it is a blonde?"_

"_I never said that."_

No, he never said it, but he never denied it either! Not for real anyway. It was Naruto who had been so fixed on the thought that it was a girl. How was he supposed to know that Sasuke was... that he wasn't interested in girls?!

"_So, when are you going to confess to this love of yours?"_

"_I'm not."_

Now he finally understood what he had meant by that. The reason why he wanted to keep it a secret, why he insisted on not giving him any information until...

He gulped.  
Until Naruto said that he already _knew_.

"_You're... okay with it?"_

"_Sure. Why would I mind?"_

Oh God, no wonder he had begun acting strange during the mission. And then Naruto had started talking about Sakura, and...

"_Why? You don't want me to badmouth your girlfriend?"_

Of course. It all made sense. Sasuke had been jealous, he had been right that far, but he had not been jealous of Naruto, but Sakura! He had thought that Naruto was after Sakura and...

Sasuke's voice echoed through his head and even though the words had been whispered they now seemed to be spoken with the force of a thunderstorm.

"_You know nothing..."_

How could he have been so blind?

They had spent so much time together and he had not noticed a single thing!

When had this happened?!

From what point in his life had Sasuke begun to see him as something more than just a friend? _How_ could he even have started seeing him as something more than a friend in the first place?! They were _best_ friends for crying out loud! _Best_ friends didn't go and fall in love with each other just like that, right? And Naruto himself had not done anything to encourage him, had he?

...

Had he...?

Let's see, there was of course the incident when he chased him half around the world to bring him back home, but that was something any _true_ friend would do!

Then they had the numerous missions they had been on together, but that had been because no one else had the courage to team up with Sasuke in the first place! It wasn't like he had been given a choice in that one!

Hmm... The sparring-sessions? Unless the bastard thought a foot in the face was a major turn-on then Naruto couldn't find anything encouraging about that... But then again, sparring meant a whole lot of physical activity and... Sasuke had always been quite fond of straddling him whenever he won a fight.

He felt himself blush ten shades of red when the symbolism of that though hit him.

"Perverted son of a bitch...!" he screeched.

He _knew_ that there was some unhealthy reason to why he always did that!

Suddenly he felt like he had to sit down again and dropped to the floor next to his bed, not even bothering to aim for the furniture in question.

This was... this was...!

He couldn't find any words to describe what this situation was.

One part of him understood perfectly and another part was still busy trying to find a loophole and deny the whole thing.

Sasuke was in love with him.

With him!

Uzumaki Naruto!

When the hell did this _happen_?!

And more importantly, what was Naruto going to do about it?

His first instinctive reaction to that was 'Nothing' with a capital N, but then that other more reasonable part of him butted in and convinced him that there was just no way that he could go back and act as if nothing had ever happened.

He would not be able to look at Sasuke for the rest of his life if he didn't sort this out and god knows he had not brought the bastard back just to run around and hide from him for all eternity!

But how was he supposed to tell him that he knew? Especially without explaining how he found out in the first place!

Coming up with a fiction-story to fool Sakura was one thing, fooling Sasuke was another!

If he as much as tried to lie then Sasuke would be over him faster than a cat could pounce a mouse...

The mental image the word 'pounce' gave him in that context made him blush again and he resolutely shook his head. Damn Uchiha, why did he have to put those stupid thoughts in his head?!

This was all, utterly and completely the Teme's fault!

Had he not done that stupid thing in the hot springs that time then Naruto wouldn't have started dreaming about perverted things like that in the first place and then he wouldn't have gotten his precious, virgin brain spoiled by these stupid images!

Then instantly another memory made itself heard inside his head and the mere sound of it made the hair in the blonde's neck stand on end.

"_Please... Don't stop..."_

Sasuke had been dreaming... And Naruto had... Naruto had...!

"_Na-ah!"_

Naruto's eyes widened and his head shot up so fast he almost banged it into the frame of the bed.

"Holy shit!"

Sasuke had been dreaming about _him_!

That time! And Naruto had fucking _molested_ him as he did it!

He _had_ encouraged him! _Sexually_!

"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit...!"

His hand darted into his pocket and tore out the voodoo doll and flung it across the room.

The doll hit the dresser he kept next to the door whit a soft thud and then came to a rest on the floor below it. Luckily for him the throw would not affect the real Sasuke since Naruto had not focused on actually doing anything to it, but right now Naruto didn't have a single thought on the practical details of the jutsu in any case, he was too busy panicking over this new insight he had gained on the situation.

"This is all your fault!" he hollered and pointed accusingly at the doll. "You started this you sick piece of cotton! You made Sasuke gay!"

Of course he knew that the last part couldn't possibly be true, but right now he couldn't come up with anything better to say.

The doll didn't seem to take any offence though since it kept quiet.

"I can't believe this... This isn't happening... this isn't happening..."

He got up and began pacing around the room, occasionally stepping on some old, empty cup of instant-ramen that lay scattered on the floor without acknowledging its sudden flattened existence.

Of course Sasuke wouldn't want to admit this to anyone, even Naruto had sense to understand that much. If people found out that the most dangerous guy in Konoha had the softies for _him_... Oh, they would never hear the end of it. And he meant both of them because hell knew that Sasuke wouldn't be alone in receiving puns about this.

What was he supposed to do?

How deep did these feelings of Sasuke's go anyway?

Maybe he just _thought_ that he was in love with Naruto when it actually was just a minor confusion?

Maybe he had hit his head last night and suffered from amnesia and just...?

Again the sensible part of his brain broke in and interrupted the rambling of his less productive self and told him to stop being so dense.

Sasuke didn't suffer from amnesia!

He glared at the doll again who kept looking all innocent from its spot on the floor. He then resolutely stalked passed it towards the door while giving it a stern look.

"I hope you realise that this is still all your fault."

--

--

Sasuke was panicking. He wasn't going to deny it or try to smooth it over – he was clearly having a panic attack.

He couldn't think straight and the streets and the people he passed by only seemed to exist as a multicoloured blur around him. The moment he finally reached the comforting safety of his own home he quickly locked every single door leading into the house and pulled the blinds over the windows.

He couldn't lie! This simply couldn't be happening!

_It must be a side-effect from the attack last night, something went wrong with the jutsu that guy tried to cast on me!_

Pacing around the living room he decided to give his theory another try and took a deep breath to focus his thoughts and then declared in a loud voice;

"I hate to-... soy beans."

Fisting his hands at his sides he concentrated on the word '_tomatoes' _inside his head, imagining the bright red colour, the fresh taste of it, how much he _loved_ that damn vegetable and then he tried again.

"I hate tooo-soy beans. Fuck!"

Stopping the pacing back and forth he glared down at the floor by his feet.

"I _hate_ toma-soy beans!"

_God damn it!_

"I hate tom-soy beans! I _hate_ to-soy beans! IhatetomsoybeansIhatetosoybeans I. HATE. SOY. BEANS!"

In pure frustration he began stomping his feet into the floor in time with the words, to pissed off to even notice that the first syllable of 'tomatoes' by now had disappeared from the rant completely.

Obviously saying it faster didn't help, but in a flash of genius he stopped the hysteric chanting and inhaled once again.

"I _love_ soy-tomatoes."

The tea table suddenly found itself relocated into the thick wooden wall and then discarded into various parts of the room when Sasuke's foot decided to make close contact with it.

"Son of a _bitch_!"

Picking up the angry pacing again and cursing loudly, using words that would make ero-sennin blush, he tried to gather his composure once again.

He had said it. He sure as hell had not meant to say it, but that obviously hadn't mattered much. And to Sakura of all people!

The only thing that could have been more embarrassing than that would have been if the dobe himself had been there as well.

His stomach suddenly clenched as another thought hit him.

What if she told _him_? What if _he_ found out what he had said?

Would she do that? At first it seemed as if she had taken it like some kind of joke, but after his dramatic exit there was no way she could still believe that.

Why couldn't he had just walked away like a regular person?! Dramatic entries and exits were Naruto's trademark, not his!

If that stupid kunoichi tells Naruto about what happened it would be a disaster! He couldn't let that happen, he had to avoid that at any cost!

With resolute steps he made his way to the door, feeling the panic slowly begin boil up inside his chest again.

He needed to get to the dobe first, that would be step one and then he had to see where to go from there. Luckily he had a pretty good idea of where to find him...

--

--

Naruto was just rounding a bookshelf when he spotted the raven who walked in through the door to the library.

For a split second his instincts told him to hide, but he quickly realised that doing so would not only look incredibly stupid, but it could also raise suspicion that he might be up to something.

So instead of doing a 180 degree turn and disappear into the Social Science section he bravely continued his way to the issuing counter, silently hoping that the books he was carrying would be sufficient enough to keep him hidden.

As a matter of fact, perhaps they were a little bit _over_-sufficient, or perhaps he was just focusing too much on what Sasuke was doing, because he was obviously missing out on where he was heading himself...

Walking straight into a chair someone had forgotten to push in when they left the table he immediately stumbled over it which resulted in a deafening ruckus that echoed through the building as he fell on his face and sent his books skittering all across the well polished floor like a load of shuffleboard disks.

Instinctively he laid still on the floor with his face down, awaiting the laughter that he was sure would come from the other people in the room, but somehow the thing he heard was even worse.

"Hn. Usuratonkachi."

He looked up and came face to face with a pair of sandals and quickly lifted himself off the floor.

"I don't know what you were trying to do just now, but something tells me that you failed dobe."

"Shut up, Sasuke."

The reply came on reflex and he instantly wished he had been the one to shut up instead when he saw Sasuke's smirk fade and how he then bent down and picked up one of the books at his feet.

"Still doing research for the exam huh?" he asked, but without the lowering tone he had been using before.

Naruto picked up another book, mostly so that he wouldn't have to look at Sasuke's face. God, could this get any more embarrassing?

"Yeah... Eh, Sakura-chan says... I mean, I still have a lot to go trough. Considering I was gone on that mission..."

_Oh, why did he bring up the mission?! Don't think about the mission! Leave the mission out of this!_

Sasuke gave the book a quick glance and then he handed it to Naruto, but the blonde only looked at it hesitantly. The last time he had seen Sasuke the other had been flashing Sharingan at him and told him to back off. Why the sudden politeness?

Then he remembered that it probably hadn't been him the anger had been directed at, but Sakura. He hadn't been given the time to reset all the details mentally yet, so things were still a bit confusing. He had to remember that Sasuke was in lo-... that Sasuke cared for him in a whole different way than he cared about others.

"Oi, stop zoning out, dobe." Sasuke knocked the book not too tenderly against the top of Naruto's head, awakening him from his thoughts with a rude snap.

"Give me that!" He snatched the book away from the raven, ignoring the smirk he received in return. Man, for being in love Sasuke sure had a fucked up way of showing affection...

"Did you have anything you wanted to say or did you just come over to rack down on me?" he grumbled and bent down to pick up the rest of the scattered books.

"Yes I do and no I didn't."

Naruto couldn't see Sasuke's face, but the sudden silence that followed his answer insinuated very clearly that Sasuke had not planned to answer that question. With a gasp Naruto remembered that the other was still under the effect of the truth jutsu and when he straightened up he saw that Sasuke looked as if he had just realised that himself.

"Oh..." he said hesitantly. Shit, he would have to ask a follow-up question to that one or else it would seem strange.

"Eh... what is it?" He almost cursed out loud when he saw the panic that sparked to life in Sasuke's eyes, but there was no turning back now.

"I wanted to say that if you meet Sakura and she says anything about me acting strange and saying strange things then it isn't true."

Naruto almost dropped his jaw. What the hell?! Of course it was true; Naruto had heard it with his own two ears!

He stared at the other who suddenly seemed way more relaxed and then he realised that the answer had come as a surprise to the raven as well.

Had the jutsu ended on its own? No, it had to be lifted, that was the fine print of it. How had he...?

Wait a minute...

_Did you have anything you _wanted_ to say...?_

Of course!

Sasuke was still under the effect of the jutsu, he just answered truthfully to the question Naruto asked him. That had been what he _wanted_ to say, if it was true didn't have anything to do with it.

Okay. He could work with that.

He snorted and gave Sasuke a surprised look.

"You think she would say something like that?" he acted as if it as the weirdest thing he had ever heard.

"Yes I do."

"Why?"

Suddenly Sasuke's jaw began working frenetically and Naruto swore that the Uchiha actually tried to bite the words off to prevent them from leaving his mouth.

It didn't help much because then suddenly his mouth opened and Naruto almost got blown away from the pure speed of which the answer was delivered with.

"BecauseImetwithertodayandIsaidnaddidthingsIdon'tusuallydoandIdon'tknowifsebelievedmeorifshethinksI'msickandwilltellyouaboutitbecauseitsortofhadsomethingtodowithyou."

Naruto blinked in confusion. He had no problems when it came to talking fast, but not even his mind had the ability to intercept all the words in that sentence. He actually felt sorry for Sasuke, who now stood frozen on the spot and looked as if he was contemplating on running away, but Naruto had been forced to ask in order to blow the thing off, otherwise he would have to tip-toe his way around the subject the entire conversation.

"Are you saying..." he thought about it for a couple of seconds. "...that Sakura might come to me and ask me if I think you've been acting strange lately?"

"Yes!"

Sasuke immediately shone up and Naruto suspected that the other was currently thanking his lucky star for making Naruto put the question like that.

Now, let's make one thing perfectly clear here; Naruto had no desire what so ever to embarrass his best friend any further than he already (unconsciously) had done, but in order to do that he would have to step carefully. The thought had not crossed his mind that he might wanna remove the truth-jutsu from the voodoo doll before he got to the library and then he couldn't do it because the doll was still in his apartment. Had he know that the bastard would be out moving in public even after what happened this morning he would have removed it immediately!

And to make maters even worse Sasuke was here talking to Naruto in person, which put the blonde in a somewhat tough spot since - to be completely honest - Naruto wasn't ready to hear a full-on love confession from Sasuke quite yet even if it were to be said by his own free will.

_So, nice and steady then..._

"Okay, then if she asks me that, what do you want me to answer?"

"Tell her that that what happened this morning doesn't concern her. I'll handle it on my own."

Naruto scowled.

"Wow, that sounds harsh."

"It's supposed to."

Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Trust Sasuke to come up with a blunt answer.

"Alright I'll tell her as soon as I see her. I've got to go now anyway or she'll bash my head in for not studying. See ya!"

Without waiting for an answer he then hurried over to the issuing counter to get his books checked in and was relieved when Sasuke didn't come after him.

Man that had been close. Luckily it seemed as if the jutsu allowed Sasuke to manipulate his answers somewhat to keep a few things hidden or Naruto would never had been able to slip out of that one. He was sure that Sasuke had been on the verge of fainting when that last line had come blurting out of his mouth and he snorted loudly.

'_sortofhadsomethingtodowithyou'_

Oh, it had something to do with him alright...

Taking his books he made his way outside to go back home, using backstreets and alleys like he had this morning. He did not want to risk bumping in to Sakura just yet because then he would be back in the same mess he had just barely managed to avoid. He simply wasn't ready to handle Sasuke's state of heart right now and he sure as hell didn't want to be stuck with Sakura like some kind of intermediary in the middle.

He needed to think this through; he needed to decide what to do about this situation...

--

--

As soon as Naruto was out of the library Sasuke began doing research again. He was utterly relieved that the conversation with Naruto had gone so well, but right now he didn't have time to be grateful. The situation had become much more serious now and he couldn't afford to waste any time. If he could figure out what kind of jutsu the creep had tried to do on him, then he would probably be able to find out what went wrong with it and fix it. Then he could confront the person who did it later without worrying about this little no-lie side-effect.

The pile of books that Naruto had gathered up soon looked like nothing compared to the mountain of scrolls, books and volumes Sasuke dropped onto one of the tables and began reading. He read on attack jutsus, he read on destruction jutsus, he read on mind-reading jutsu, damn he even read on medic jutsus, but found nothing.

His frustration was so evident, even the people around him soon decided that it would be best if they left the study hall and continue their work elsewhere.

Outside, the shadows on the ground grew short as the sun reached it's peak and then began stretching out again as it began to settle into the horizon and Sasuke had still found nothing of use.

Fifteen minutes before the library closed for the night he headed to the cart standing by the issuing counter in a final, desperate attempt to find _something_.

The cart contained books that had recently been returned to the library after being borrowed home by people. There were cook-books, story-books, paperback-books, fiction-books, factual study-books, atlas-books and books that Sasuke barely could label, much less categorise. He took one look at the chaos in front of him and frowned. There was no way he was going to stir around in that mess now.

"If you're looking for something then perhaps I can help you."

He looked to the side where the librarian just emerged from a door behind the counter.

"Is it something in particular?" she asked and gave him a polite smile.

"A jutsu." He answered shortly.

Her smile didn't fade for a moment despite the annoyed tone of his voice. Instead she shone up as if he had just given her a compliment.

"Oh, then perhaps you should have a look at this? It was returned today so it hasn't been put back out on the shelves yet."

She walked over to the counter and from what Sasuke could see she just reached out and grabbed a book at random and then she turned around and offered it to him.

"It's been ages since someone borrowed this one. It's been standing in the far off section of the library for years. The techniques have developed since it was written so these must be pretty outdated by now, but I think there's some in here that's pretty original still."

Sasuke took the book and shot a glance at its cover.

It was completely black and made of leather with big, golden kanji symbols imprinted on the surface.

'_Jutsus around the World.'_

He opened it up and paged through the index of the book and almost felt his heart stop when his eyes landed on the words _'Shinjitsu no Jutsu'_ written on the lower right part of the page.

Quickly he flipped the book open on the assigned page number and began reading, his pulse going faster and faster with each word.

_**-**_

_**Shinjitsu no Jutsu**_

_The jutsu is mostly used under terms of interrogation. It is a clean way to find out what you want to know without bloodshed or unnecessary violence._

_The target will not be aware of the jutsu until confronted with a direct question. In that situation the target will be forced to express the first true thought that appears in his/her head that would serve as a correct answer. _

_Note that this also means that the target is able to keep pieces and fragments of the truth hidden if not asked the right questions. _

_For example; if a person is asked where he/she slept last night the target will be able to answer 'in a bed' if he/she indeed slept in one instead of naming the specific place. The jutsu will register the answer as true and thus not continue to force out an answer._

_This effect can cause a delay in the interrogation process so be sure to mind what questions are being asked and in which order._

_Please also note that if the target does not know the answer to a question the jutsu allows him/her to either be quiet or express their lack of information in whatever way they usually would._

_Observe that the jutsu doesn't wear off as time goes by – it has to be lifted by the wielder._

_-_

Sasuke stared at the page. He had found it. This was it, it had to be.

However, this didn't sound anything like what he had felt last night, nor does it say anything about an effect similar to it.

'_The target will not be aware of the jutsu until confronted with a direct question.'_

It didn't say anything about feeling like you're being crushed when the jutsu is casted, which meant that this wasn't the only thing that had been done to him.

He continued to flip through the pages from the beginning, stopping to read every single one that sounded as if it were to be used on another person.

Eventually his eyes landed on a big picture somewhere in the middle of the book and the bold letters above it proudly declared that this was something serious.

"Voodoo no Jutsu..."

He began reading and the further he went the more his eyes widened and suddenly he slammed the book together with a bang that made the librarian do a startled jump behind the counter.

"When was this book borrowed?" he asked with a voice that was shaking slightly. The librarian looked at him with a confused expression.

"Uh... it still had five days left before the time expired so I guess... about two weeks ago?"

"By who?"

"I'm sorry but I'm not allowed to..."

Sasuke took one step closer to the counter and leaned over it so that he came face to face with the girl whose smile now had faded. Glowing red eyes stared at her and even if Sasuke's voice was barely more than a whisper it immediately got her attention.

"By. Who?"

--

--

Naruto tried to focus on the text written on the scroll he had splayed out in front of him on the bed, but the meaning of the words just seemed to flee him. How come every time someone was going to explain something in writing they had to go and use the most difficult words they could find? Sakura was going to kill him if he hadn't memorized this text until morning, and right now he wasn't in a particular mood to study. It was already growing dark outside and he still hadn't figured out what to do about Sasuke, if that was the correct term to describe it with.

He had thought about just leaving it alone and pretend like nothing, but he had also soon realised that doing so wouldn't work in the long run. Sasuke was his best friend and it wouldn't feel right to ignore the state of the situation. It would be like lying to him and Naruto refused to do that when it came to something as important as this.

With a frustrated sigh he pushed the scroll aside and threw himself down on the bed to resume his fruitless staring at the ceiling.

He still couldn't grasp the concept of it all. Sasuke had always been acting all high and mighty against him; he had barely given him as much as a compliment during the time they had known each other. How was it possible for a person to act so cold and none caring against someone they liked? Okay if he didn't want to admit anything, but couldn't he at least have dropped the attitude?

He sighed and rolled over to his stomach with his head resting on his arms, his brow knitted as if he was trying to solve the world's toughest equation.

Him and Sasuke together? Like a couple? That was just weird. Even if Naruto had swung that way it would be a complete disaster to begin with. Just look at them!

They fought all the time, they always had opposite opinions no matter what subject, they didn't like the same things and they would never be able to have a functional sex-life because... well let's just say that some parts of your body simply weren't meant to be used for more than one thing.

"Besides, we'd probably fight about who'd get to be on top anyways..." he mumbled into the crook of his arm.

His overworked brain immediately began supplying him with the possible images such an event could bring forth if the actually _were_ to get along. He groaned tiredly and fumbled at his side until he found a pillow which he then used to smack himself roughly in the head, but the sound of Sasuke's voice already sneaked its way into his thoughts and made his stomach clench in a weird but somehow... good way.

'_Please... Don't stop... Na-ah!'_

"No, no, no, no! Not in a million years!" He declared loudly to the room. "I don't swing that way, so there's no point in thinking about it!"

_And still you have wet dreams about it, that's one hell of a contradiction._

That's ridiculous! Like that would be the same thing.

_Oh, c'mon, how many has it been since you came back from that mission? Two? Three? Probably more, because there's been dreams that you can't remember, aint that so?_

That had absolutely nothing to do with this! Those dreams were provoked! Sasuke-Teme had been doing weird stuff in the hot springs and...

_Yeah, the first dreams perhaps and maybe even those who came after. But what about those from before, huh? Those you've been having for like four months now?_

Hormones! Nothing more! And besides – he couldn't decide on what to dream about, so that didn't prove anything.

_Of course it did! How long had it been since he stopped asking Sakura out for dates? How long had it been since he even looked at her in another way than he did now? Or any other girl for that matter?_

That's just bullshit! I do look! Maybe not so much lately but I've been busy...

_...looking at Sasuke._

No! _Not_ looking at Sasuke! I have most definitely_ not_ been watching Sasuke in any terms whatsoever!

_Oh yeah? Then how come you can recall every single detail about him without the slightest effort?_

We've been team mates since we were kids! I've had his sorry ass around me almost my entire life, how can I _not_ recall details?

_..._

What?

_Not _those_ kinds of details..._

That's it, I'm not thinking about this anymore. I'm straight, straight, straight as a fucking ruler and no subconsciousness of mine is going to tell me different!

_Sure, whatever you say..._

He shoved his head underneath the pillow once more and moaned loudly. Why him?

Sitting up again he was about to reach out for the scroll he had pushed aside earlier but were interrupted by a loud knock on his door.

He threw a quick look on his alarm clock.

09.12 PM.

He slid off the bed and headed out into the hallway, wondering silently who it could be.

He opened the door slightly to peak out and his heart seemed to skip a beat when he saw who was outside. Talk about bad timing.

Sasuke didn't look up when he opened the door and his bangs were hiding the expression of his face, but Naruto barely noticed. He fired off a big smile and scratched the back of his head in an attempt to act surprised to see him.

"Oh, hi Sasuke. What do you-...?"

"Where is it?"

Naruto blinked dumbfounded. Sasuke's voice was low, and he didn't sound the slightest happy.

"Where's what?" he asked, but in the same moment he said it his eyes fell on something the raven was holding by his side. Something black and leathery... with golden kanjis...

_Uh-oh..._

He quickly looked back up at Sasuke's face and now Sasuke was looking back at him and his eyes were blazing red and burning like bonfires.

"Sa-sasuke... I-I can explain..."

Sasuke didn't answer. Instead he took a step towards him and before Naruto came up with the brilliant idea that maybe he shouldn't let Sasuke in to his apartment right now, the raven was already inside.

Naruto moved back when suddenly a fist came shooting out towards him, not to hit but to grab and for once the mess on his floor came to good use, because he tripped on the backpack that he kept by the door and fell backwards through the doorway into his bedroom and thus avoided being captured.

"Hey! Sasuke! W-wait just a minute!"

Sasuke took another step towards him and there was something about that slow pace he held that really freaked Naruto out. Sasuke was going to take his time with this. Naruto would have plenty of time to explain afterwards... if he could still talk by then.

"Where. Is. It?" Sasuke asked again and in a moment of unnatural clearness Naruto saw how the Uchiha's fingers were pressing into the cover of the book he held so hard the leather actually flexed around the digits.

Then he also saw how Sasuke's eyes suddenly fixed on something right next to Naruto's elbow and when Naruto looked down he saw the voodoo doll lying by the dresser where he had left it this morning.

In the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke make a move as if to dive after the plushie and he acted immediately and grabbed the doll first, efficiently pinning it's arms together alongside with it's body as he did.

Sasuke instantly found himself with his arms being pressed tightly against his sides and being caught in the middle of a movement he lost his balanced and hit the floor with a loud 'uff' next to Naruto.

The blonde quickly scrambled as far away from the fuming Uchiha as he could get and then he grabbed hold of the doll's feet as well to prevent Sasuke from getting up and following him.

Taking a couple of seconds to reflect upon what the hell just happened he stared as Sasuke did his best in trying to get up on his feet again, but to no use. His eyes were flaring, his teeth gritted and Naruto was sure that if he as much as removed a pinkie from the doll he would be a dead man. Sasuke seemed to be of the same opinion, only a little more eager than Naruto for it to happen.

"Give me that!" he growled and glared at the doll in Naruto's hand.

"And let you go, do you think I'm stupid?" Naruto hollered back and crawled back a little further. Even when confined like this and wriggling around on the floor like a giant worm Sasuke was still fucking _scary_.

"I don't think you're stupid, I think you're an asshole and- argh!" Sasuke let out a furious growl when the jutsu forced him to speak. "Give it to me!"

"No way!" Naruto unconsciously moved the doll further away from the struggling man on the floor, not really thinking about the fact that Sasuke couldn't reach it anyway.

"You-you'll just... You don't understand!"

Sasuke stopped struggling for a split second and the look he gave Naruto could have made an entire mountain chain crumble.

"Understand?!" he roared. "_Understand_?! You... _You_...!"

Naruto realised that this conversation was taking on the same effect as a snowball rolling down the slope of a mountain. Sasuke was too pissed off to even speak properly and Naruto actually thought he could feel the voodoo doll twitch in his hand as the raven resumed the struggling against his invisible restrains.

"Sasuke, stop it! I-... I'll start asking you questions if you don't!" He held out the voodoo doll in front of him like someone pointing a gun.

"Sasuke, you're forcing me! I'll do it, I swear!"

Despite his warning, Sasuke didn't seem to pay any notice to the threat and Naruto felt panic rise. What the hell was he going to ask?!

"I... Wha-... Do- _Do you sing in the shower_?!"

"Yes."

At the sound of his own voice Sasuke suddenly became very aware of the rather inferior situation he was in and instantly stopped moving. Naruto on the other hand just blinked stupefied at his team mate and lowered the doll in surprise.

"You do?" he asked.

"Yes." The word was breathed out from between Sasuke's gritted teeth and he had a slight tint of red on his cheeks that could have been from fury or embarrassment or even both.

The glare had returned to Naruto's face and the blonde quickly formed an apologising blush.

"Oh... Well, so do I so it's not a big deal... I mean..."

He gulped and lowered the doll completely, still careful not to let go of it and sighed deeply.

Oh god, where was he supposed to start...

"Sasuke, I know that this looks really bad, but just listen to me, please."

"Give me one reason why I should!"

"Because... Because were friends."

Sasuke didn't stop glaring, but he redirected it to the floor next to him instead of Naruto's face and snorted.

"Last time I checked friends didn't do the stuff that you've done."

Guilt panged in Naruto's chest at the accusing tone and he too found his eyes staring down into the floor.

"I know... But I... You were acting like such an asshole and just wanted to... I never meant it to go this far."

Sasuke suddenly raised his head and gave him a stern look.

"How far?"

Naruto tensed up, something Sasuke wasn't late to pick up.

"Naruto..." he asked again a little louder. "How. Far?"

The fact that Sasuke was using his real name was enough to make Naruto give up every attempt to lie. He had given himself away, great...

"I..." He swallowed hard and realised that he couldn't raise his eyes from the floor. He couldn't look at Sasuke right now. He felt way too ashamed.

"During our mission... the one with the parcel... I sort of... came to the conclusion that... that you were in love... with Sakura."

He ventured a quick glance at Sasuke's face and found that the raven was staring at him as if he had just blurted out the whole thing in a different language, his jaw dropped to the floor and his eyebrows raised in scepticism. Then, a couple of seconds after the last syllable left the blonde's lips it all connected with the Uchiha's momentarily numbed brain and he almost choked on his own breath.

"You though _what_?!"

"I-I just..."

"Have you lost your god damn _mind_?!"

"Hey, it wasn't like you were any help!" Naruto defended himself sulkily. "But I thought you were in love with her and that you didn't want to say anything because you were scared it would ruin your friendship... so I... thought I could help."

"And I suppose the thought of actually _asking_ me didn't hit your tiny brain?"

"Wah- I... well... I guess it didn't... But I just wanted to help, and when you didn't get the hint I thought I could..."

He cut himself off, knowing that what he was about to say would sound really bad, but Sasuke ended the sentence for him.

"You thought you could force me." He stated coldly and again the guilt stabbed in Naruto's chest like a rusty knife.

"Well, when you're putting it like that..." he mumbled and he heard Sasuke snort again

"I _am_ putting it like that because that's what you _did_!"

"It wasn't like I meant it to go like this! Had I known that you didn't like her I would never...!"

He almost bit his own tongue when he saw Sasuke's eyes widen and he mentally kicked himself.

"And how, if I may ask, did you find out that I didn't like her?"

Sasuke's voice was low and he drew out each syllable as if he was afraid to even ask them and that's the moment Naruto realised what mess he had ended up in. This was the one question he definitely did not want to answer, but he had already begun the confession so...

"I... heard you." He whispered, but in the silence of the room it sounded as clear as if he had shouted it. Sasuke's face turned ash pale.

"This morning... I heard what you said to Sakura... That you're..."

"Don't you dare say it!"

"...in love with me." Naruto ended, ignoring the choked protest from the raven.

Silence lowered itself over the apartment. Naruto didn't have the strength to look up from the voodoo doll in his hands. There, it was said. Now Sasuke knew that he knew and there was no going back.

"I know that this probably wasn't the way you had planned it to come out, but... Sasuke, I..."

Finally he managed to raise his head enough to look at the raven, but Sasuke wasn't looking back at him. He was lying down on the floor with his face turned down into the carpet and from what Naruto could see he was staring out into empty space in front of him.

"Sasuke?"

"I thought I was going insane..."

Naruto blinked, but Sasuke looked as if he was talking to himself more than to Naruto.

"I thought I was loosing my mind... Feeling things that weren't there... Doing things that were completely uncalled for... Saying things that I'd never say..."

He spoke slowly, as if contemplating each word carefully before speaking, all the while his eyes still staring unseeingly into space.

Then all of a sudden they turned towards Naruto and instead of fiery red they were now deep pools of black, icy waters.

"It was you all along." He hissed. "You invaded my privacy and ridiculed me in front of the entire village. You spied on me and made me spill my private thoughts to the last person on earth I wanted to know about them. There is no excuse to what you've done. You fucking _violated_ me."

Naruto couldn't find anything to say in reply. It was all true; he knew it was, of course.

"I just wanted to help..." he mumbled quietly, but he didn't know if Sasuke heard him or not.

Sasuke continued to look at him with those eyes and here, when it was all out and in the open Naruto couldn't bring himself to recall how it all had come to this.

All the thoughts that had seemed so reasonable and _right_ during the last two weeks were suddenly not worth more than the dirt underneath his doormat. No, the truth was that _he_ wasn't worth more than that.

There was nothing he could do to justify what he had done, absolutely nothing...

Drawing a shaky breath he removed one of the hands that were wrapped around the doll and placed the fingertips against the doll's mouth.

"Release..." he mumbled and there was a slight quiver in his fingertips.

After that he slowly lowered the doll and laid it down next to him on the floor, finally releasing Sasuke from the iron grip he had been holding him in.

Sasuke didn't move at first. He just laid there and kept looking at Naruto's face with the same icy gaze.

When he eventually began moving he did it so slowly that Naruto thought it felt like an eternity before the raven walked up to him and picked up the voodoo doll from the floor.

He turned it and studied it from every single angle, disgust shining in his eyes and then he resolutely grasped around the makeshift rope-belt Naruto had made and tore it off the doll.

He opened the small leather pouch and emptied the white rock from his garden along with a strand of black hair into his hand.

"A rock." He snorted.

He had read the instructions to the jutsu many times, but he couldn't see what a rock could possibly contribute to its function. There were supposed to be three elements to make the technique work, the hair being one of them, but which one the rock was supposed to be he didn't understand.

Demonstratively he put the rock and hair into his pocket and then proceeded with turning the doll around.

Naruto watched as his face suddenly grew stern as his gaze landed on the Uchiha paper-fan that was still attached to the doll.

"You went into my house." He said low without looking at the blonde by his feet.

"I was going to return it..."

Sasuke tore off the fan from the doll and looked at it, lingering for a moment on the small message written on it before he tossed it to the ground and stomped on it.

"This is junk." He hissed maliciously. "It means nothing to me."

As if to emphasise the statement he crushed the delicate paper with the heel of his sandal before he tossed the doll onto the floor again.

"The rest you can keep." He offered coldly before he turned around and began walking towards the door.

Naruto glanced at the doll, but made no move to pick it up.

Just when Sasuke was about to step out into the hallway he finally managed to summon up the courage to speak.

"Sasuke."

Sasuke stopped, but didn't turn around.

"I understand if you don't want to answer this, and you don't have to, but... There's something I need to know."

There was no reply, nor any movement from the raven, so Naruto decided to take it as a go-ahead. He tried to keep his gaze fixed on Sasuke's back, but the coldness that radiated off the Uchiha simply made it impossible so he settled with looking at the floor by his feet instead.

How much he had wanted to avoid it there was no going back on the things that had been said here, and he needed to hear this just one more time to be sure, directly, from Sasuke's own mouth...

"Sasuke... Are you... really in love with me?"

There was silence. Deep and pulsating like the momentary stillness before the first flash of a thunderstorm, then Sasuke slowly turned his head and looked at him.

"I was."

And then he left, leaving Naruto with the now stripped voodoo doll lying silent by his side, staring at him accusingly with dark marble eyes.

* * *

--

**Okay, so if my calculations are correct – which they usually are- then the next chapter will be the last one.**

**And please, do not fear, there **_**will**_** be a lemon in the next chapter; I didn't make you go through all this just to trip you at the finish line.**

**Just be patient, its going to be rather long so it's going to take some time to write. And of course we mustn't forget about the quality of the lemon which I'm going to create, and my goal is **_**perfection**_**!**

**Bear with me, just for a little while longer. It'll be worth it, I promise.**

**And I almost forgot – Please review!!**

**--**

* * *


	10. Amends

**I'm sorry!! Please don't kill me, I couldn't help it!**

**Alright, this turned out not to be the last chapter after all, thats a good thing right?Hehe... eh... erhm... the bad part... is that there's no lemon in this chapter...**

**--runs and hides--**

**Please, just read the chapter before you decide to string me up and flay me! It'll be worth it, I promise!!**

* * *

**Amends**

This was bad.

Sakura had never seen the two of them in this kind of state before, not even when they were kids and clawed at each other's throats all the time. No, this was completely different and so opposite in addition to how they usually fought that it was scary.

Sakura was worried.

_Really_ worried.

It had been almost two weeks and as far as she could tell neither Naruto nor Sasuke had left their homes even once. Naruto refused to answer his door and she didn't even want to go _near _Sasuke's house.

Neighbours had heard various crashes and something sounding similar to explosions coming from that building, which perhaps wasn't so bad as long as you didn't consider the fact that Sasuke's closest neighbour didn't even live on the same block...

So no, despite the long friendship she had with Sasuke, Sakura did not feel like it was enough to gain her immunity from the rage the Uchiha was currently practising within those walls.

She didn't exactly know what the two of them were fighting about, but whatever it was it had caused both of them to completely isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

She knew that Kakashi had tried to talk to both of them a couple of days ago, but there had been little success.

Naruto of course hadn't opened his door and even though Kakashi teleported himself inside Naruto had just been sitting on the floor and not spoken or looked at him even once, despite what the teacher had said. Kakashi had even gone as far as to offer himself to treat him to ramen, but the blonde hadn't even twitched. It was as if he hadn't even noticed that he was there.

Sasuke hadn't opened his door either, but it had been unlocked so Kakashi had gone in anyway. He lasted five minutes before he came rushing back out again with smoke coiling from the ends of his hair and the electric sparks from Sasuke's chidori still coursing through the white strands, all the while mumbling things in the line of 'where on earth did he learn words like that?!'.

One was apathetic and distant while the other was trying to kill everything in sight, both physically and verbally. Wonderful.

Honestly, Sakura felt like walking into Naruto's apartment, grab the blonde and toss him into Sasuke's house and lock the doors around them, then maybe they could finally sort this out and stop this stupid behaviour! Of course she knew that things really didn't work that way, especially not with those two, but something had to be done!

Thus, when the second week ended and the third week began, Sakura resolutely walked up the stairs to Naruto's home and knocked on the door.

"Naruto, it's me. Open up."

There was no answer, but on the other hand she hadn't really expected one.

"Naruto, I know you're in there. Open the door, we need to talk. And don't act like you can't hear me, cause I know you can."

When the insides of the apartment still remained silent she sighed and rubbed her temple with one hand.

"Naruto, I'm gonna give you two alternatives– either you open up this door within the next twenty seconds or I'll bash it in, you hear me?"

She pulled up a glove from her pocket and put it on her right hand.

"I'm not paying for a new one, just so you know."

She stood quiet and counted slowly backwards from twenty and when she reached three she drew the gloved hand back, on two she braced her feet firmly against the ground, on one she had built up enough chakra to make it surge the air around the fist and on zero she turned the door into a cloud of dust and splinters.

Stepping over the busted remains of the former barrier she went directly into the blonde's bedroom, only to discover that the blonde was indeed sitting on the floor by the bed just as Kakashi had said, and he looked horrible.

He had his knees pulled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them and he was staring at the opposite wall with eyes that contained nothing but emptiness, the dark circles framing them being proof that he probably hadn't slept much lately. The skin underneath his eyes was red and puffy as if he had been crying, but there were no tears to be seen now. His hair was hanging down in front of his eyes in unwashed stripes; the clothes he wore were wrinkly and judging from his appearance it didn't seem as if he had washed himself nor changed his clothes for ages. There were plates and old bowls of food scattered on the floor around him and on the bed, all within an arm length radius, but from what she could see none of the meals had been finished. Some of them looked completely untouched.

Sakura's dramatic entry didn't seem to have fazed him one bit and he continued to stare in the direction of the wall even when Sakura placed herself in front of him with her hands held demonstratively at her sides.

"Get up." She ordered sharply.

He just continued to stare right past her.

"Naruto. Get. Up."

Two blue eyes slowly moved up to meet hers, but there was nothing in them that showed that he had understood what she wanted him to do or that he even recognised her.

The moment they began moving back to stare at the wall, Sakura decided that enough was enough. Two weeks of verbal persuasion could only do this much.

The next second Naruto got roughly hauled to his feet by the front of his jacket and thrown across the room, hitting the dresser by the door with a loud bang.

"Would you snap out if it already?!"

Naruto looked up when Sakura approached him again, but there was still no sign of recognition in his eyes, which resulted in him taking another flight across the room and collide with the floor. This time he elicited a low groan when his head hit the floorboards, but he still didn't get up.

"You moron, don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!"

Sakura was beginning to fume up. How dared he?! How _dared_ he?!

"Do you have _any_ idea how worried everyone is about you?! You've been sitting in here for two weeks straight feeling sorry for yourself, but you refuse to let us know what's wrong so that we can help you!"

Naruto glanced up at her but then he averted his eyes to the floor again

"You can't help me..." he mumbled into the wooden boards and a vein instantly popped out at Sakura's temple.

This time she hoisted him up by the front of the jacket, but she didn't send him on another air crossing, not yet.

"Who are you to decide if we can or not?! You just wanna play martyr don't you? Isn't that what you're trying to achieve, huh? Sitting on your ass in here crying about some _stupid_ argument you and Sasuke had?!"

Now, _that_ certainly got his attention.

Cerulean eyes instantly locked on her and for a moment her inner self was doing a victory dance for having awakened him from the melancholy, but in the next it dropped it's jaw in shock.

Of all the reactions she could have gotten to that one she hadn't expected him to actually try and _hit_ her!

She avoided the fist with a hair's width and instantly released her grip of the black-orange jacket and jumped back, staring at him in confusion. He glared back at her, finally looking like he had decided to stand up on his own accord.

"Get out, Sakura." He hissed between gritted teeth, his eyes gleaming at her dangerously.

It took one look at those eyes to understand that the blonde was dead serious, but instead of complying she planted her feet firmly on the floor and prepared herself.

"No."

"Get. Out."

"If you want me out you'll have to force me."

"Sakura...!"

"I'm staying."

That's about the time she got before she had to duck for the second time.

Normally when sparring with his friends, Naruto would never load up enough force to actually hurt someone, but when this blow soared past her head she could practically _feel_ that this time wasn't going to be normal.

Spinning around she caught Naruto's arm underneath her own and gave him a kick in the stomach just below the ribs that sent him stumbling backwards.

"Naruto, this is ridiculous!" she tried to reason, but Naruto just glared at her.

"Go away!"

"No!"

Sakura blocked the next blow with her arm and then threw a punch at Naruto's face, giving him plenty of time to block it as well. Right now the boy was practically impossible to communicate with, so she had to make him work some of that frustration out before she could make him calm down. She didn't want to hurt him - from the looks of him that's the last thing he needed - but god damn it she wasn't going to just stand there and let him pummel her all he wanted!

She crouched and made an attempt to kick his feet away from underneath him, but Naruto quickly avoided it by jumping up and aim a kick at her head as well which she blocked, grabbed and used to crash him down onto the ground again.

No matter how emotional Naruto was at the moment, it soon became evident that the two weeks he had spent in his apartment had taken out its toll on him. Sakura suspected that he hadn't been eating or sleeping properly during the entire time and his sudden anger made his punches and kicks unorganised and clumsy, turning weaker and slower each time she blocked them.

Eventually when Naruto seemed to be on the verge of exhaustion, Sakura managed to grab hold of both his arms and then she basically lifted him up and hurled him down on the floor so hard the items on the shelves fell over. Then she firmly straddled him across his midsection and grabbed hold of his jacket once more to force him up in a sitting position.

"Have you gone crazy?!" she screamed. "Have you completely lost your mind?!"

"Let go of me!"

Naruto made a weak attempt to pry her hands of him, but to no use. Sakura wasn't letting go.

"Not until you stop this childish behaviour! Damn, Naruto what-...?"

The next second she got cut off when Naruto's fist suddenly connected with her jaw and made her teeth clash together so hard it sent flashes of pain through her skull.

The punch had not been hard, because by now Naruto's strength was on the same level as that of a ten year-old's, but the action itself came as a slight chock.

Reaching up with her free hand she touched her bottom lip and felt a sting of pain when she brushed against a spot where her teeth had bit down into the soft flesh.

Naruto himself looked as if he had suddenly woken up from a nightmare only to find that the reality had turned out to be even worse than the dream. His hands slowly fell back to the floor and his eyes went wide in shock when he saw the blood that stained Sakura's fingertips.

She quickly brushed her fingers off against her clothes and let go of Naruto's jacket, allowing him to slump down onto his elbows, still staring at her. She drew a shaky breath and when she looked at him Naruto could see the tears that had begun forming in her eyes.

"Naruto... For god's sake, tell me what happened... Tell me... why you're acting like this..."

Naruto felt like the world was spinning. Everything went in and out of focus, colours blurring together and the sound of Sakura's voice seemed to come from miles away.

What happened...? What did he _do_?

"Sakura... I..."

Something wet dripped down his chin onto his hand on the floor and it took him a second or two before he realised that it was tears and then another two before he realised that they were his.

Why was he crying?

Then his eyes fell on Sakura's face and as his eyes focused on the clear crimson colour of the blood that stained her lip his mind slowly kicked into gear again.

Sakura's eyes widened when Naruto suddenly let out a strangled whimper followed by a choked sob.

"Naruto...?"

The blonde slumped down to lay flat on his back and tears instantly formed by the corner of his eyes and began to trickle down the side's of his face where a new sob made them fall to the floor. The sob was soon followed by a third one that sent more tears flowing out through the screwed shut eyelids and soon Naruto was crying openly, his body shaking from the breathless sobs and painfilled wails that clawed themselves up his throat and pressed out between his lips. Sakura stared at him and slowly moved away to sit down beside him and once her weight was gone he rolled over to lay on his side, curling his legs up against his chest, his cries continuing to grow louder until they sounded like an injured animal's howling.

The sound of it cut into Sakura's very soul and she instinctively reached out a hand and placed it on the boy's shaking shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but at the contact Naruto only twitched and curled up even tighter, the cries shrieking in his throat.

She hesitated for a moment, but then she reached out again and firmly pulled him up so that his head was resting against her shoulder before she cradled her arms around his upper body and began rocking him slowly back and forth as if he was a little child.

Naruto's breath hitched as all barriers broke and he clasped his arms around her and wailed loudly against her neck, staining her skin and sweater with tears.

"I'm sorry! I-I'm so _sorry..._!"

Sakura brought one of her hands to his back and began rubbing it soothingly, shushing him gently while maintaining the calming rocking motion of her body.

Naruto was clinging to her like a child to his mother with his hand desperately clutching the fabric of her clothes, broken pieces of words and sentences falling from his lips like the withered leaves of an autumn tree.

"I-ah never meant to, I-... I'm so so-sorry! Sa-sakura I-I didn't…"

"I know, Naruto… I know… It's all right now..."

"But I _hurt_ you! I h-hurt you and I hurt Sasuke and... and..."

"Naruto, I don't know what the two of you are fighting about, but I'm sure Sasuke will understand."

"N-no! He hates me...! I-I screwed up and n-now he h-hates me!

"No, he doesn't. You'll work it out; you just need to calm down and talk about it. "

"But he-..."

"Shh, don't think about that now." She reached up and gently pulled a hand trough the blonde locks on his head, though she almost regretted it when it got covered in a thin greasy substance. My, he really hadn't washed it in quite a while. She also noticed the acrid smell that came from the blonde's sweater and frowned slightly.

"Naruto." She gently pried the blonde's hands away from her clothes and leaned back so that she could look at him. Naruto let go of her and wiped his face off with the sleeve of his arm, an action that almost made Sakura frown in disgust. With a firm hand around his other arm she stood up from the floor and pulled him up with her, pretending that she didn't notice his furiously flushed face.

"You know what I think?" she asked and crossed her arms over her chest, looking him up and down with a light scowl. Naruto lowered the sleeve of his arm which he was still using to wipe off his face and peered at her from underneath swollen eyelids.

"Whad?" he asked and sniffled loudly.

"I think you need a bath."

--

--

While Naruto was in the bathroom, taking a much needed shower, Sakura cleared the apartment from old ramen cups and took care of the tremendous amount of dishes that had been stocked up on the sink, bureaus, tables and floor before she went out into the hallway and gathered up the unrecognisable remains of Naruto's door and threw them onto a pile outside the apartment.

After that she went through the cupboards in the kitchen in the hunt for something eatable. Naruto had been on the verge of running out of food, but after a couple of minutes of searching she managed to find a single cup of instant ramen lodged on the top shelf in the pantry

When she put the kettle on to boil up the water she heard the door to the bathroom open and how Naruto walked into his bedroom and closed the door.

For a second she feared that he might go back to his mad wall-staring in there, but she quickly realised that he probably just didn't want to risk her walking in on him while he changed into his new clothes.

She proved to be right when Naruto, like clockwork, came walking out into the kitchen exactly three minutes after Sakura had poured the hot water on the noodles, grabbed a pair of chopsticks from a drawer and began eating.

He didn't bother sitting down by the table and he was finished before Sakura had even gotten the time to let go of the washcloth she'd used to clean off the sink.

"Ahh!" Naruto put the bowl down with a satisfied sigh and then he finally sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and rested his arms on the flat surface of the table, leaning his head down on top of them.

Sakura smiled at him, but quickly got serious again.

She sat down on the chair opposite to the blonde and reached out and touched his hand.

"Naruto... how about you tell me what this was all about."

Naruto's body stiffened momentarily, but then he pulled a deep sigh and straightened up in his seat. At first he just sat there and stared down into the table top and Sakura was almost about to ask him again when he began talking.

He told her about how he had found the jutsu book at the library and how Sasuke had made fun of him the same afternoon. How he had gathered the items, how he had only planned to embarrass Sasuke just a little bit for being so stuck up towards him and how it slowly had gone overboard when he found out that the guy had a crush on someone.

He left out the more private things like how he had touched the voodoo doll while Sasuke slept, but otherwise he stuck to the truth completely.

Sakura kept quiet during his entire story without interrupting, simply watching the other's face as he spoke. Naruto's voice was low and monotonous as he spoke, even towards the end where he came to the argument between him and Sasuke, though Sakura saw how tears slowly glazed over his eyes, threatening to flood them, but they never fell.

When Naruto had finished Sakura sat silent for a while longer, processing the story she had just heard.

Of all the things they could have been fighting about... She would never have guessed this would be it.

"I can't believe you actually thought he was in love with _me_." She marvelled. "I mean, that's just so... weird. That's like... it's just weird."

Naruto buried his face in his hands, sighing deeply.

"I wish someone could have told me that a little earlier before I went off and made a fool out of myself."

"Well, it wasn't like any of us could have imagined you would actually cast a jutsu on Sasuke in the first place, not to mention trying to hook him up with anyone."

Sakura gave him a look and then she sighed and leaned back into her chair, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"So... He finally spilled the truth then, huh?" she asked

"What do you mean 'finally'? You just found out this morning." Naruto went back to lean over the table, looking up at her with one of his eyebrows raised in scepticism.

Sakura sighed.

"I've known _for sure_ since this morning, yes. But I've been having my suspicions for quite some time now."

Naruto stared at her for a couple of second and then he sprung up from his chair as if he had gotten his ass stung by something.

"Suspicions?!" he choked out. "You mean that-... You _knew_?!"

Sakura shot him an annoyed glance.

"I just told you that I didn't. But he's been behaving so weird around you; I'm surprised _you _haven't noticed anything before."

"Weird how?" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, as if questioning the statement and the action made Sakura huff with annoyance.

"Well, first of all; he's always looking at you. I swear, sometimes when you walk by you could take a kunai and press it to his eye and he still wouldn't see anything but you."

Ignoring the wild blush that suddenly invaded the blonde's cheeks she continued;

"Secondly; you're the only one who's ever been able to make him do something he really doesn't care about doing. He listens and sees you on a completely different level than the rest of us. I mean, if Kakashi-sensei or anyone else tells him to do something he goes into ice-mode and refuses, then you come along and tell him to do the exact same thing and all of a sudden everything's peachy."

Then she suddenly grinned at him.

"And you're the only one who's allowed to touch him. Wonder why that is, ne?" she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at him and giggled when Naruto's blush instantly turned ten deeper shades of red.

"Sakura-chan!" he spluttered out, his embarrassment evident in the shrieky tone of his voice.

"Like I said, I can't understand how you could have missed it, but I guess it's takes a girl to spot such things."

"Well, it's stupid things." Naruto grumbled and Sakura glanced at him, suddenly looking a lot more serious.

"So, what about you?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto cautiously returned her gaze.

"Do you love him back?" she asked bluntly, making Naruto's blush return once again with full force.

"Wha-whah-... I-I don't... I haven't thought abou-... It's not like I've-... I-I mean-... – Hey, don't laugh at me!"

The last part was directed towards Sakura who was almost toppling over from her chair with hysterical laughter at the blonde's spluttering attempt to answer and the sudden undignified cry at the end of the sentence only made her laugh even harder.

Meanwhile Naruto's face had adopted the colour of a ripe tomato and he glowered at Sakura who was still giggling madly at him.

"If you don't want to know, then could you at least stop laughing at me?" he muttered sourly.

"I-I'm sorry." She chuckled and quickly straightened up. "Naruto I didn't mean it like that, seriously, you just looked so cute." She mused at the embarrassed expression that fluttered across his face. "Besides, I think you answered the question quite clearly." Raising a brow at him she then continued;

"Then will you tell him?"

Naruto's eyes instantly darkened and he looked down at the floor by his feet.

"I don't think that's what he would like to hear from me right now..."

Sakura quickly turned serious and gave Naruto a stern look.

"Yeah... About that..."

She leaned forward in her seat and locked eyes with the boy on the other side of the tale.

"Those things you did... Naruto, they were absolutely horrible, I hope you realise that. I don't understand what you were thinking, but on the other hand I guess you don't know that either." Her fists clenched and there was a loud cracking sound from her knuckles that made Naruto gulp and sweat drop.

"Had it not been that I've already beaten you up today I would probably be using you to create an extra front door right now." She said clearly and Naruto gulped again before nodding silently to show that he understood. Sakura looked at him and then she got up from the chair and walked up to the kitchen window.

"Sasuke's pretty pissed off at you right now, but I take it you've already figured that out, so I'm not gonna nag about it. However, this fight you guys have can't go on forever. Sooner or later someone will have to make a move."

She turned away from the window and looked at the blonde.

"So therefore, you're going to visit him today and sort this mess out."

All colour immediately disappeared from Naruto's face.

"M-me?! B-but I...! He's going to _kill me_!"

Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Yes you, and no he won't. You don't kill people you love just like that."

"But he said that he didn't... that he wasn't..."

He cut himself off when he felt Sakura's hand firmly grasp his chin and pull it up so that he was forced to look her in the eyes.

"Naruto, first off all; we both know that Sasuke says things he doesn't mean when he's upset – this wouldn't be the first time. And had he _not_ been in love with you anymore he wouldn't be this upset about the whole thing in the first place. He would be ignoring and freezing you out - _not_ turning his house into a pile of splinters while lashing out at innocent people who just happen to be around."

She let go of his chin and stabbed her finger firmly against his chest.

"That's why you're going there. I think it's only fair since you're the one who's been doing the wrongs here, not Sasuke. Don't you agree?" she asked with a sharper tone, stabbing his chest a second time.

Naruto held back a slight wince, but nodded submissively. What else was he to do?

--

--

Sasuke heard the knocking on his front door from his spot on the living room floor, but he didn't care about answering it. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. And if it turned out that someone was stupid enough to enter without first receiving his permission he would make sure that said person would regret that decision faster than they could spell 'chidori'.

The knock was repeated, but Sasuke refused to get up. He was lying stretched out with his arms folded underneath his head, staring up at the rather large, slightly carbonised hole that had been created in his ceiling. He was wearing a pair of black trousers and an dark blue, long sleeved sweater since the jouninvest he usually wore was lying thrown to the floor in the hallway where he had left it after coming home that night two weeks ago. Around him on the floor were various scattered items lying about, most of them in pieces and the only thing in the room that was still intact was the sit cushion that was currently buried underneath the remains of his former tea table. The only reason to why it hadn't been ripped into pieces was the fact that it didn't crack, crash, clash, bang, snap, smash, wham, explode, implode or do any other satisfying sound when annihilated, thus not contributing at all to ease the suffocating lump he had lodged in his chest that threatened to choke him every other second or so.

There was a third knock on the door and the Uchiha's jaw clenched as his gaze drilled itself harder into the clouds above him. His inner self wanted to get up and give the intruder a good punch in the face for disturbing him while his other, more proud self told him to stay put on the floor until the annoyance disappeared on its own.

He had just decided on the latter when he heard the unmistakable sound of the front door's handle being pushed down and how the door opened, creaking slightly in the quiet hallway.

"Sasuke?"

His eyes widened and he almost choked on his own breath. What was _he_ doing here?!

He quickly got up from the floor, but then he froze again.

Did he really want to talk to the blonde right now, or even look at him for that matter?

Would he be able to handle that?

It turned out he didn't have much of a choice when it came down to it because in that moment Naruto himself stepped out from the hallway and then stopped, staring in chock at the chaos that used to be Sasuke's living room.

What the hell happened in here?!

"Well, if it isn't the master burglar himself."

Naruto snapped out of the daze at the sound of Sasuke's voice and looked up to meet with a pair of cold eyes.

"Looking for more things to steal, or have you found some new jutsu you want to try out on me?"

Sasuke saw the blonde cringe slightly under the harsh words, but he didn't care. The turmoil of feelings he had tried to suppress for the last two weeks were steadily beginning to boil up again, only this time he had a chance to take them out on the very same person who had caused them.

"I'm surprised you didn't climb in through the window, but then again I guess you can't even do a break-in properly, being the moron you are."

Naruto's eyes wavered to the floor, but he didn't snap back like Sasuke had expected, something that made Sasuke's temper rise even higher. He had been longing to have this fight with the dobe and now he wasn't even going to argue with him?!

He stood quiet for a while longer, but when the blonde remained silent he snorted loudly and turned away.

"Go home, Naruto."

Naruto's head snapped back up and he stared at the Uchiha who was now walking towards the open doors leading out onto the porch.

"But I..." he started, but silenced when Sasuke glanced back at him.

"But you _what_?"

Naruto swallowed hard, trying his best to ignore the ice covering Sasuke's voice.

"Listen... I came to say that... that you were right. And that I'm sorry. Okay, I know you're still mad at me, but I just..."

He looked up only to spot the sight of Sasuke's back as he raven disappeared out onto the porch and he abruptly cut himself off.

"Oi, bastard!"

He ran out after him and glared daggers at the Uchiha who were standing with his back against him and looking out over the garden.

"I'm trying to be sincere here, asswipe! Even if you're pissed off you could at least listen to me!"

"I don't need any lame excuses from you, Naruto. Go home."

He wasn't at all surprised when instead of leaving Naruto stomped up to him from behind and roughly spun him around by a tight grip on his shoulder.

"Are you deaf?" he hollered. "I told you that I'm here to say I'm _sorry_. I'm not making up any excuses - I'm _apologising_ to you, bastard!"

Sasuke tore the blonde's hand off his arm and glared back.

"Well, in that case I don't need your apologies either. Now, will you leave on your own or do I have to throw you out?"

"Neither." Naruto growled.

Sasuke continued to glare, but he didn't move. Sure, the thought about beating the shit out of the blonde was temping, but he wanted him to _suffer _fucking mental_ torment_ before he did so.

"Fine." He snarled. "If you want to spill your heart so badly, then go ahead."

He leaned his back against one of the wooden pillars on the porch and crossed his arms over his chest, giving the other male a full feathered Uchiha-Like-I-Give-A-Flying-Fuck-What-You-Say-Anyway-Glare which Naruto returned with only a slight hint of Screw-You in his blue eyes.

"As I said - if you had cared to stay long enough to listen - I'm _sorry_." He repeated, even though it sounded a bit harsher than the first time. "I did something that I shouldn't have done, and god knows I feel like shit about it, but I swear I never did it to hurt anybody."

Sasuke kept looking at him, obviously waiting for the blonde to continue.

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes momentarily.

"I don't blame you for being mad at me you know. Hell _I'm_ mad at me, but I just... I just wanted to..." He groaned loudly and brought his hands up to tug at his hair in frustration. He didn't even know how to say it right for crying out loud!

"Sasuke, please..." he finally mumbled. "I can't take anymore of this."

The raven looked down at the ground before he leaned forward and gave him malicious glare.

"Then perhaps you should have thought about that before you decided to turn my life into a fucking joke."

Naruto gritted his teeth and shoved the other backwards with a loud snarl.

"For fuck's sakes, Sasuke! What else do you want me to do?! I can't turn back time; even though I wish I could!"

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't want you to do _anything_? Maybe I just want you to stay away from me?"

"You think I would come here _without_ considering that?! Do you have any idea how long it took me to gather up the courage to even _think_ about coming here!?"

"Hn. About two weeks it seems." Naruto instantly caught on to the lowering tone in the other's voice.

"Yeah, I bet you were walking around here just _waiting_ for me to show up and apologise, didn't you?" he spat out, words dripping with sarcasm. "Seriously, what else do you want from me? Is there something you want me to do? Then just tell me and I'll do it!"

"I asked you to leave my house, but from what I can see it didn't work."

Letting out a low growl Naruto spun around and made a short pace back and forth on the porch in pure aggravation. Right now he wasn't sure if he really wanted to apologise to the bastard or beat the fuck out of him.

"Do you want to beat me up, is that it?!" he suddenly snapped and stalked up to the scowling raven, so close their bodies almost touched. "Then go ahead, bastard, I won't stop you!" he threw his arms out in invitation, opening himself up for the other to punch the living daylights out of him if he so wanted to.

"Here, go ahead! I'm all yours, just do it if it makes you feel better!"

Sasuke eyed him up and down, as if evaluating the offer before he snorted loudly and turned his head away.

"What makes you think I would feel better by beating you up?" he asked dryly.

Naruto's hand instantly shot out and grabbed Sasuke's wrist, holding it up to his face.

"Because I _know_ you, asshole. You've been clenching and unclenching your fists ever since I started talking." He released the limb and took a step back, spreading his arms out again. "Just do it." He urged. "It's not like you've had a problem with it before, remember?"

"I'm not going to fight you, Dobe." Sasuke raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms again, not noticing how the familiar nickname snuck its way back into the sentence.

"I'm not asking you to fight me; I'm telling you to hit me."

"Well, I'm not doing that either."

"Stop being such a baby and hit me!"

"No."

"Hit. Me!"

"_No_!"

"Sasuke!"

"You stupid ass, I said n-!"

Sasuke abruptly got cut off when a fist came flying out towards his face and he quickly avoided it by throwing himself to the side. He heard a very firm crackling sound and he could feel how the entire porch shook around him when the blonde's fist connected with the beam that Sasuke had been leaning against.

He looked back and saw a wide crack stretch itself from the floorboards along the pillar and all the way up to the ceiling. His eyes then darted to the blonde who removed his hand from the wood and sent him a glare before beginning to move towards him.

Sasuke growled and rolled to his feet, all thoughts about the blonde's mental suffering gone right out the window. The son of a bitch broke his porch damn it!

He lashed out towards him and aimed a hit towards the other's head, completely ready to take up on the offer of beating the blonde senseless when...

His eyes widened.

Did he just block his attack...?

Did he just fucking _block_ his fucking _attack_?!

Jumping back again Sasuke barely managed to avoid a second fist that came rushing towards his head and when he landed his eyes were glowing with crimson.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" he hollered, not caring about how stupid it probably sounded considering the circumstances. "What happened to the whole 'Hit Me'-bullshit you were going on about?'"

"You had that chance, Teme, you didn't take it. You want to hit me now; you have to earn it first."

_Oh you little...!_

Sasuke growled and braced his feet against the floor.

"I'm going to fucking _kill_ you."

After that it was all just a blurred jumble of kicks, feet, fists and punches. Sasuke knocked Naruto's jaw from underneath with his right fist, only to get the triumphant feeling smothered when Naruto's leg shot up and delivered a hard kick in his abs that made him stumble and loose his breath. Sasuke couldn't tell exactly when it happened, but at some point during their fight they both ended up on the floor of his living room, furiously clinging to each others clothes in the attempt of wrestling the other to the ground. Sasuke heard Naruto groan loudly when he flipped them over and slammed the blonde's body up against the wall, but Naruto quickly used the sudden support and pushed off of the vertical surface with his feet and ended up above the raven once more. Grabbing hold of Sasuke's hands Naruto then used his legs to lock with the other's, efficiently preventing the raven from moving even if it proved to be hard work as the Uchiha kept trashing and tugging to get loose.

Naruto was breathing heavily, still tired from his lack of sleep and his previous fight with Sakura, but he also found it quite pleasing to see that pinned underneath him Sasuke was in a very similar condition.

"Will you listen to me now?" he panted out, only to almost get head butted as Sasuke attempted a new throw to the left.

"Get off!"

Naruto quirked a brow and tilted his head to the side, looking down on the Uchiha with a suddenly amused expression.

"You offering?"

Sasuke froze in the middle his struggle and stared up at the blonde looming over him.

"What?" he asked, completely dumbfounded.

During the closest following seconds the world of Uchiha Sasuke stopped spinning, then his temporarily dazed mind caught up with him and provided the necessary information on what the moron straddling him was suggesting, causing heat to slowly spread up his cheeks and tint his face bright red.

"You asshole!" he growled, causing Naruto's smirk to instantly die.

"Asshole? What the hell-?"

He got abruptly cut off when one of Sasuke's fists broke free from his grip and connected with his face for the second time during the cause of ten minutes, only this time Naruto wasn't prepared. The blow sent him flying backwards and off Sasuke's body to land in an undignified heap on the floor. Sasuke was up before Naruto even hit the ground and if the glares from before had been bad, then the ones he sent the blond now were bloody _murder_.

"I should have known..." he hissed, biting off the words as if they left a foul taste in his mouth. "I should have known that you would make fun of me like this."

Naruto crawled up and wiped the blood away from his now busted lip, still scowling.

"What the hell are you talking about, I wasn't-." His eyes suddenly widened and he stared at Sasuke as if really seeing him for the first time since he arrived at the house.

"Oh..." he said slowly. "You thought I meant it like...? Oh..."

A faint blush appeared on the blonde's cheeks.

"I wasn't... making fun of you..."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and snorted, looking as if he wasn't sure if he should laugh or scream at the statement.

Naruto followed the movement and sighed.

"You don't believe a word I've been saying, do you?"

"Really, you think?"

Giving him a quick look Naruto straightened up and rolled his shoulders, working out the kinks in his back with a loud snapping sound.

"Fine then."

Before Sasuke could really register what he was about to do, Naruto had made five hand seals and pressed two of his fingers against his own lips.

"Shinjutsu no jutsu."

Then he lowered his arms and stretched them out in the same inviting gesture he had done earlier.

"Ask me."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him.

"What did you do?" he asked warily.

Naruto shrugged.

"You saw the book, you know how it works."

Sasuke's eyes widened considerably.

"You didn't!"

"Yes I did. You want to know if I'm lying then here's your chance. Ask me."

"And how do I know you didn't fake that thing just now?" He snorted, expecting an undignified holler from the blonde in response to the accusation, but Naruto simply shook his head.

"You don't. But if you don't want to take my word for it, then just ask me something. Your pick."

Something flickered in Sasuke's eyes, but his face remained stern. The answer hadn't been a straight 'yes' or 'no', but on the other hand it hadn't been a question that could be answered that easily. The rules around the jutsu allowed Naruto to alter his response if he didn't know the answer, but if he had faked it...

"No."

"C'mon Sasuke, there's must be something you want to know!"

"You'd wish."

Naruto suddenly smirked.

"You're lying."

"I am not!"

"Yes you are."

"No."

"Sasuke, it's just a lousy question!"

"I'm not asking you anything."

"Why not? Because you're afraid of what I might answer?"

Onyx eyes suddenly shot up and locked with Naruto's.

"No."

"Then just _ask_. I don't care what it is; I would answer anyway, jutsu or no jutsu."

"Then why did you do _that_ if it doesn't matter?" Sasuke snapped, referring to the jutsu the blonde presumably had just cast on himself.

"Because it matters to _you_."

For a moment the only sound that was heard was the silent rustle from the leaves outside, then Naruto slowly walked up to Sasuke until he was standing right in front of him, their eyes locked with each other's all the while. Despite the turmoil of unappreciative feelings Sasuke had for the blonde at the moment he still got surprised at how quickly his heart speeded up as the distance between them decreased. He could feel the blonde's breath ghost against his cheek as the other leaned closer and it took an enormous amount of self-control to suppress the wild shiver that threatened to travel down his spine when the blonde silently whispered into his ear.

"Ask. Me."

Sasuke momentarily struggled with the obvious screwed up morals of the scenario but eventually came to the conclusion that no matter what he chose to do it simply couldn't get any weirder than this.

"Alright." He straightened up and locked eyes with the blonde.

"You said that you wished you could turn back time."

"Yes."

"Was it true?"

Next to him Naruto let out a loud snort.

"No, that was probably the biggest lie of my life."

Sasuke scowled.

"Then why did you say it?"

"Because I knew it would tick you off."

"Hey, that's-!"

He began moving away, but Naruto grabbed hold of his upper arms and kept him in place.

"Do you?"

"What?"

"Wish you could turn back time. Undo the things you've done. Take back the things you've said."

Sasuke thought about it for a while. He had spent the last two weeks wishing for something similar to that scenario, even if he knew that it would be impossible. Time couldn't be reversed - what happened couldn't not be undone.

But if he actually were to be given the choice...

"No."

Some of the tension in Naruto's shoulders dropped and Sasuke almost choked on his breath when the blonde's head suddenly sank down to rest against his shoulder. The other's breath gushed across his skin when the blonde let out a deep sigh and tiredly rubbed his face against the fabric of his sweater.

"I'm glad to hear that."

Sasuke frowned. Of course, why wouldn't Naruto be glad about such a thing? He was the one who wouldn't have to live with the embarrassment for the rest of his life, always having to tip-toe around the other just to maintain the sudden fragile balance of their friendship; he wouldn't have to-...

"I've been living in denial, Sasuke." The blonde suddenly murmured against his shoulder and Sasuke snapped out of his mental, brooding rant.

"Denial?" he repeated.

"Mhm..."

The breath against Sasuke's neck suddenly seemed to grow more intense as the rest of Naruto's body leaned in on him further and the breathed out sounds of the blonde's voice continuously tried to coax up a new shudder along his back.

"For weeks now... no, it must be months... I've been telling myself that this..." he reached out and splayed his hand against Sasuke's chest. "...is something I don't want."

He could feel the blonde smile against his neck and vaguely realised that Naruto was actually pressing his lips against his skin.

"You were trying to hide your feelings for me, but in the end it turned out that I had already beaten you to it. Now that I think about it I think I've known all along, about you, about me. I just wouldn't allow myself to actually hope and do anything about it. I wouldn't have been able to live with the embarrassment if it didn't turn out to be true..."

Sasuke's brain was slowly malfunctioning. He knew that he should probably... no that he _definitely_ should remove the blonde's hand from his chest, but at the same time he didn't seem able to summon up the energy needed to execute the correct movements. He also knew that the blonde was standing way to close than what he should be allowed to; they had been fighting only minutes ago and now all of a sudden they were practically snuggling each other!

Just as the thought crossed his mind he felt the lips against his neck move again, only this time they were actually _moving_, travelling up towards his ear and delivering small nips and bites on the way.

No self-control in the world could have stopped the wild tremor that shook the Uchiha's frame in that moment and every reasonable thought about removing the dobe's hands, stepping away or telling him to stop shrivelled up and died.

"Sasuke..."

Breath tickled the shell of Sasuke's ear and he felt his own grow shallow as his eyes slowly slid shut. This was not how things were supposed to go. He shouldn't have such a hard time resisting this. He was an Uchiha for Christ's sakes! An Uchiha would never allow this to happen, no, an Uchiha would tell Naruto to shut up and get the fuck out of his hou-...

"I love you."

Coal eyes flew open and Sasuke made a new attempt to back away, but Naruto's hold on his upper arms tightened and prevented him from moving.

"Ask me if it's true."

The hand on Sasuke's right arm slowly slid down and around to rest on the raven's lower back, pulling their bodies closer together.

"C'mon..." Fingers slipped underneath the hem of his sweater and began moving up and down his spine in smooth strokes, heading higher and growing longer with each turn. Sasuke's eyes fluttered close and his back arched slightly as he tried to decide whether to pull away from the touch or lean into it.

"I-I... don't know." he cleared his throat in an attempt to regain some of his composure. "You tell me."

Nails scratched warningly against his skin and made him hiss.

"Uh-uh, Sasuke..."

Naruto's tongue flickered against the lobe of his ear and then the hand that had been resting on his arm went up and fisted itself in the black strands of his hair and pulled his head back to lock eyes with Naruto. It didn't hurt, in fact the pull had been much like the nails on his back – slow and firm, more like a guide than some kind of punishment and Sasuke had to admit that he really didn't mind it. Much...

"You have to ask properly."

Sasuke stared into the two cobalt blue orbs in front of him, suddenly completely aware of the very compromising position they were in. Especially the extremely flushed state of his face and the obvious inferior posture of his body made a very strong impact on his ego.

Naruto on his end also looked as if he was very ware of the same fact, only he didn't care. He simply gave Sasuke an apologising smile and shrugged.

"You know how it works."

The hand on his hair released its grip and slowly dropped to gently cup his chin, caressing his lower lip with the pad of the thumb.

Sasuke couldn't understand how a hand that spent almost every waking hour of the day handling weapons and throwing punches could be so _soft_. In fact he couldn't understand any of this. It was all just so surreal, so down right _weird_ that he decided that this had to be a dream. That's it, he was dreaming, none of this was really happening. He was probably still lying on the floor, sleeping. This was all his imagination.

Then his eyes focused back onto Naruto's blue ones and all those thoughts were immediately chased away.

This was no dream.

He had experienced hundreds of Naruto dreams, but only in reality could the colour of those eyes be so intense. Naruto leaned in closer, his mouth only a breath away, pools of cerulean locking with black.

"Ask."

Lips fluttered over each other, so light it could have been the summer breeze floating in from the garden outside. Sasuke had never been so scared in his entire life.

"Do you love me?"

He whispered the words, not trusting his voice to carry anything louder. Naruto looked at him. Seconds past. Minutes. Years. Decades. Then one corner of the blonde's mouth tilted up into a smile.

"Yes."

Sasuke could feel lips move against his as Naruto answered and he opened his mouth to lick and moisture his own out of reflex when some distant part of his brain registered how dry and chappy they were in comparison to the blonde's soft ones.

However, opening them was about as far as he got. Naruto's lips latched themselves over his before he had the chance to even draw his breath and the blonde didn't waste time to take opportunity of Sasuke's already parted lips.

Sasuke couldn't think. He was barely aware of the fact that his hands were grappling the fabric of Naruto's jacket and that he was leaning his body back just slightly to meet the pressure of Naruto's mouth. Naruto's tongue slid across Sasuke's teeth before it moved on to flick against his tongue, coaxing a low moan up the raven's throat.

It all ended before Sasuke had the chance to fully appreciate what was going on and when Naruto broke the kiss he couldn't stop a half broken whimper from escaping his lips.

Naruto smiled and went to nibble at the lobe of his ear instead.

"Ask me again."

The breath against his skin sent ripples through Sasuke's body, and for some reason Naruto's voice sounded much hoarser than it had only seconds ago.

"Do you love me...?"

He hissed when teeth graced along his ear and then his mouth got invaded by Naruto's tongue once again before the blonde breathed out a hurried 'yes' against his lips before diving in for another kiss.

By now both of Naruto's hands were tangled into Sasuke's hair, holding on as if there was no tomorrow while Sasuke's were doing something very similar to Naruto's clothes.

The pace of the kissing had speeded up and their tongues were alternating between Naruto's mouth, Sasuke's mouth or in between the two, their teeth gracing and tugging at each other's lips in their desperate attempt to achieve as much contact as possible. Naruto's lips tasted a bit metallic from the wound Sasuke had inflicted on him earlier and he couldn't really decide if he wanted to lap at the injury with his tongue or bite down on it with his teeth.

"You know I'm still mad at you." He growled, receiving a hurried nod from Naruto.

"I know."

"You're not... off the hook quite yet."

"Mhm."

"Dobe."

Naruto showed that he was listening by removing his tongue from Sasuke's mouth, allowing him to speak clearly, moving down to suck and lick on his neck instead, making the raven's breath hitch.

"Pay...ah... P-pay attention to me."

"I'll pay you as much attention as you want, just shut up and kiss me again."

Sasuke growled again and this time it was his hand that found its way into Naruto's hair and caused the blonde's lips to detach from his throat with a distinct pop.

"Hey, I'm trying to make a point here!"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the devastated ceiling.

"Fine, I'm listening."

"Great, then try to control your libido for a couple of seconds and let me... ugh... scold you... ng... appropriately."

As he spoke Naruto's hand went down to firmly grab Sasuke's ass and then slowly begin to rock his own body against him, smirking lightly as Sasuke's stern voice got broken by a surprised moan when Naruto's groin rubbed against his.

"You go ahead and talk, Sasuke. I'm listening."

For a moment Sasuke actually managed to form a glare at him, but it turned into a much less threatening display when a new sway of Naruto's hips caused his eyes to flutter.

"I haven't... forgiven you yet, dobe. Y-you still have some m-ah...! Some major stuff to make up for."

"You're absolutely right." Naruto agreed in a calm, sober voice, his face not showing any signs of the arousal Sasuke could clearly feel pushing against his upper thigh.

"So until I... You owe me until..."

"Aha. Couldn't agree with you more."

Sasuke opened up his eyes and saw that Naruto was eyeing him up and down with his lips slightly parted as if he was looking at the most delicious treat ever made. The slow rocking of their bodies was making his blood boil and when the blonde in front of him slowly licked his lips he felt like the world was spinning.

"Naruto..." he groaned. "Stop doing that..." Naruto looked up and shot him a smug grin.

"Stop doing what?"

Sasuke's head tilted back when a particularly hard thrust sent flashes of lightning through his body.

"Nng!... _that_!"

"But you don't want me to stop. You're enjoying this too much..." The hand on his ass quickly slid around to cup the front of his trousers, eliciting a loud gasp from the dark haired teen.

"...See?" Naruto asked sweetly, smirking at the reaction. "I think your libido is the one you should be worried about, really. It's not healthy to ignore problems like this, you know."

Sasuke gritted his teeth to hold back a groan when the hand against his arousal began moving.

"Mmm, yeah. You should really get that fixed..."

"Naru...to!"

The sight of the flustered Uchiha in front of him really was a way too good thing to pass up upon and the next moan Sasuke made got smothered by Naruto's mouth covering his once again.

All of a sudden there seemed to be hands everywhere, roaming over bodies, fisting blonde and black hair, groping and touching wherever they could reach. Everything was happening all at once, but at the same time it was going way to slow. Sasuke wanted to feel Naruto's body against his own without those stupid clothes in the way and right now he didn't have the patience to wait for Naruto to remove the obnoxious items on his own.

He resolutely grabbed the zipper of Naruto's jacket and more or less tore it down, groaning in aggravation when he found yet another piece of clothing covering his price.

Sliding both of his hands underneath the annoying black t-shirt he heard Naruto hiss into his mouth from the chill touch. Sasuke couldn't understand how the blonde could think his hands were cold with the way his blood was pumping through him, but judging from the heat radiating from the other's body he supposed even burning coal would seem a bit nippy to him.

He quickly moved up to pinch and roll the two nipples, but he barely had the opportunity to touch them before Naruto's hands suddenly shot up and grabbed hold of his wrists and stopped them.

"Wait..."

"Don't want to."

"Sa-..."

Sasuke silenced him by resolutely shoving his tongue into his mouth, relishing in the shudder he felt go through the blonde's body as he took control of the kiss.

Flames of red desire were scorching and burning through every single corner of his being, making him feel as if his entire body was on fire.

Then the hands holding his wrists tugged sharply downwards and he heard Naruto growl as he broke away from the kiss, holding Sasuke on an arms length away from his own body while breathing heavily.

"Damn it, Sasuke..."

He looked up and smiled before straightening up and moving back a bit.

"We... we really have to calm down a bit. I'm about to reach my limit here."

Sasuke smirked and stepped closer again, letting his hands wrap around the blonde's waist while nibbling on his ear lightly.

"Hn. Figured you were all talk and no action."

"Oh, there's action alright. I just don't want to loose it and rape you right here on the floor, Teme."

"Usuratonkachi..." Sasuke traced a path along Naruto's jaw line with his tongue and licked at a spot right below the ear.

"You can't rape the willing."

He smirked wider when he heard the blonde release a silent moan at the prospects he was laying out with that one sentence, however, somehow Naruto still managed to gather himself enough to gently push Sasuke away

"Not yet."

Sasuke smirked and raised a brow suggestively at him.

"You think I'd mind doing it on the floor?"

Naruto snorted out a laugh.  
"Maybe not now, but as soon as your brain gets a chance to recover from the mind-blowing sex and I've removed all the splinters from your back, you will."

Giving Sasuke a quick kiss on the lips he then slowly pried Sasuke's arms away from around his waist and began backing away.

"And don't give me any of your 'hn, you'd wish'-shit, because I won't buy it."

He took another step back only to change his mind and dive back for another, slightly deeper kiss. He grabbed hold of Sasuke's hands once more, mostly so that the raven wouldn't get the chance to grope him again, but even without the pleasurable imprisonment he still had trouble breaking away.

"There will be more times, soon. We can wait."

"Hn, speak for yourself."

Naruto grinned at the sullen tone in the raven's voice before he looked around the room.

"Besides... I'd say it looks like you've got some cleaning up to do here."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him.

"You're just trying to get away so that you won't have to help me, aren't you?"

"No! As a matter off act I've got to go buy a new front door before the store closes! I don't have time to clean up your mess, Teme."

Sasuke gave him a look of honest curiosity.

"You don't have a front door?"

Naruto waved his hands dismissively.

"No. Long story. Let's just say it got into a minor dispute with Sakura earlier this morning..."

He gave Sasuke a new kiss and mumbled a 'got to go' before he quickly retreated back and down the hallway.

Sasuke looked on as he disappeared behind the corner and sighed while shaking his head.

Same old moron alright...

In a state of perplexed chock he looked around the room and realised that doing some cleaning might not be such a bad idea after all. He bent down and picked up a piece of burnt wood from the floor, probably a piece of the broken roof and sighed again. All of a sudden that Chidori from earlier seemed a bit... unnecessary.

"Oi, Sasuke! I almost forgot!"

He looked up at the sound of the blonde's voice and saw Naruto peek his head around corner to the living room.

"I love you!"

He made a loud smacking noise with his lips and sent a blow kiss towards Sasuke before he winked and disappeared again.

Sasuke stood still and waited until he heard his front door close after the whirlwind who during the course of half an hour had managed to completely turn his life upside down. Then he threw the wooden piece back to the floor and made his way out to the porch.

Cleaning could wait; right now he was in a desperate need of some air. The dobe's kisses had the suction power of a god damn vacuum cleaner!

* * *

**Okay? We're cool? I'm not on somebody's deathlist?**

**Next chapter is already halfway-done, (14 pages already) and once it's ready it'll just needs some tweaking before posting so... I'm begging you on my hands and knees to be patient with me for a little while longer!**

**Oh, and review please!**

* * *


	11. Voodoo no Jutsu

**Voodoo no Jutsu**

Naruto dodged Sasuke's fist and quickly spun around to deliver a hard kick against the raven's stomach. Sasuke blocked it with his left arm, grabbing hold of the leg with his right, twisting it so that the blonde was forced to spin around in midair. Naruto took his chance and sent another kick with his free leg against Sasuke's head as he came twisting around, but missed and was roughly thrown down onto the ground, face first, loosing his breath for a second as it was knocked out of his chest.

He heard Sasuke snort from behind him as he stood up and wiped the dirt off his face.

"You're still making the same mistakes, Dobe."

"I'm not done yet, Teme."

Naruto launched forward and threw a five-hit combo against the other boy, though four of them were blocked and the fifth barely made the raven wince.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you had already begun." Sasuke drawled and quickly jumped back when Naruto's fist threatened to make mash potatoes out of his face.

"You shouldn't be so cocky; I've actually picked up a thing or two since last time."

"Oh yeah? What could you possibly have learned in those dusty old books at the library that would help you defeat me? And the voodoo doll doesn't count, so don't even start!" he added with a glare when Naruto's face broke up in a huge fox grin.

"It made you loose your ground pretty bad though, didn't' it? As I recall it you 'thought you were loosing your mind."

"Oh, sock it, will you."

Naruto quickly ducked and avoided Sasuke's foot, still grinning like a mad man.

"What? You laughed at it all too when I told you how stupid you had looked at the training ground that day."

"I did not laugh!"

"Alright, so maybe you just smirked extremely wide then."

This time Sasuke's kick actually hit him, sending him stumbling backwards.

"You talk way to much when you fight Dobe. You're leaving yourself open."

"I told you I wasn't done yet."

Naruto dashed forward and Sasuke smirked at the prospects of the frontal assault. When was he going to learn that head-on attacks never worked? All he would have to do was grab the moron's arm when he tried to hit him, spin him around and then...

His eyes widened as the spot where Naruto had been at suddenly became empty, a few stripes of smoke marking the place where he had disappeared.

A shadow clone? No, he hadn't given Naruto the time to create one.

But if it wasn't a clone then what...?

He didn't have the time to finish the though before he heard a low 'bamf' behind him and then his arms got pinned behind his back, a leg pushed in between his and in the next second he was lying face down in the dirt with Naruto victoriously straddling his back.

"_Now_, Teme, I'm done."

Sasuke grumbled something incoherent from underneath him that sounded something along the lines of 'shut up'", but Naruto pretended like he didn't hear it.

"So, you give or what?" he grinned.

Sasuke didn't answer. Why did he always want him to _say_ it?! Wasn't his humiliation enough?

"Saaaasukeee..."

Naruto leaned down with an evil glint in his eyes and let his hand travel from the raven's shoulder down to sprawl suggestively at his side, holding back a laugh when Sasuke's entire body flinched at the touch.

"Okay, I give! I give!"

Naruto immediately jumped of him, flopping down on the grass next to his boyfriend.

"Good boy."

Sasuke glared at him.

"You're evil."

"No, I'm crafty."

"Evil."

"Crafty."

"Evil."

"Crafty."

"Evi-... I'm not having this conversation! You cheated! Twice!"

"Oh just admit that you thought I was going to hit you right on! The look on your face gave you away!"

"So what if I did? It's not like you've come up with any new attacks during the last year so it wasn't exactly something I expected you to do. When did you get time to practice the teleportation jutsu anyway?"

Naruto shrugged.

"A little now and then. I can teleport myself onto one of the chairs at Ichiraku's from my apartment by now. Though I promised the old man not to do that anymore when I accidentally ended up in a dude's lap the other day."

"Hn. Usuratonkachi."

"Yeah, yeah I know. But admit that you didn't see it coming!"

"Alright, fine, I didn't. You already forced me to say that you won, what else do you want?"

"Hmm, how about some ramen and a make out session?"

"I'm not buying you dinner."

"Just the make out then?"

"If you behave."

"Aw, c'mon. You know you can't resist me for long."

"Watch me."

"I'll tickle you into submission."

Sasuke shot him a wary glance and actually scooted a few inches further away from him.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh yeah? Watch me."

He reached out a hand towards the Uchiha who quickly grabbed it.

"Dobe, I'm warning you. The offer on snapping off your wrist stills stands."

Naruto grinned at him, but retrieved the hand.

"I wasn't serious. It's just so fun seeing that panicked expression on your face whenever I say the word 'tickle'. You look so cute and vulnerable I just can't resist it. Plus the fact that it's extremely convenient from time to time."

"And of course you never hesitate to take advantage of that which, as I said, is _evil_."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, I'm evil. But I just like to hear you laugh, that's all."

Sasuke gave him a look that clearly said 'are you kidding me?' before he rolled over so that he too was lying on his back.

"I should have figured you were doing those things to screw with me..."

"Damn right, I do. Only I never get to the screw part."

"And whose fault is that exactly?"

"It sure as hell ain't mine! You're the one who always have to pick spots where people can walk in on us! Why can't you just keep it in your pants until we get, let say, _indoors_ for a change?"

"Are you going prude on me?"

"Not me! But did you _see_ that lady's face? And she had a kid with her for Christ's sakes! I don't even want to guess what damaged that girl the most; the sight of you trying to get in my pants or the way her mom smacked her hand in front of her eyes."

"Hn. She'll live."

"Now who's the evil one?"

"I'm an x-criminal; I have a permit to be evil."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Tell me, does it come along with the giant stick shoved up your ass?"

"No, that one's there for my own personal pleasure."

"Hmm, I can imagine..."

"You really took damage from those years you spent with that sex-crazed old hermit, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah, 'cause Erosennin was soooo hot for man-smex." Naruto drawled sarcastically.

Sasuke chuckled and watched as the blonde rolled to the side and gave him a perverted look.

"What?" he asked, practically sensing how he blonde mentally undressed him with his eyes.

"Oh, nothing..." he reached out and drew a lazy circle on the Uchiha's clothed chest with his index finger, as if contemplating something. Then he quickly looked up and smiled at him.

"Hey, wanna see what else I picked up?"

"There's more? Oh goody..."

"It's a surprise."

Sasuke quirked a brow at him, but Naruto just returned the look calmly.

"You'll have to close your eyes."

"Close my eyes? What is this, kindergarden?"

"Sasukeeeeee!"

"Alright, alright, see they're closed. What am I supposed to do now, spin around three times?"

"Oh, you don't have to do a thing..."

Sasuke flinched a little when Naruto voice suddenly sounded right next to his ear.

"What do you mean?" Something about the way he had said that made a red flag flash through the back of his mind, but he couldn't really tell why. He felt the finger on his chest move up and gently brush against his lips.

"You just have to lie there... Doing absolutely nothing..." Naruto said in a sing-song voice and this time Sasuke could definitely see the red flags that were waving desperately all over the place.

"Naruto, I'm not sure if I really want to see this surprise of-..."

--

--

When Sasuke opened his eyes, everything was dark, and that was not 'dark' as in; 'the room was dark', or 'dusky' or 'shady'.

No, it was 'dark' as in completely pitch black, despite his eyes being wide open.

Where the hell was he?

He was lying flat on his back on something that felt like sheets, but when he tried to sit up he found that he... well to put it simple he couldn't sit up. He couldn't feel anything holding him down, but still both of his wrists were impossible to move as much as an inch, same going for his feet. His hands were held down by his sides, just above his hips and his feet were pushed tightly together so that he surely must've resembled some kind of human stick. He still had all of his clothes on, except for his shoes that had been removed and it didn't feel as if he was wearing his jouninvest anymore.

He was lying tied up or something similar to paralyzed on something that he assumed to be some kind of bed and judging by the fact that he couldn't feel anything against his face he came to the conclusion that he had not been blindfolded.

Still he couldn't see anything. Normally light would be able to flow in underneath doors or through cracks in the window shutters, but not here. He could hear the soft rustling of leaves moving in the wind and birds singing in the distance, but still he couldn't _see_ any of it.

Where the hell _was_ he?!

Then his ears detected the sound of movements coming from somewhere in front of him and he stiffened.

"Relax, Teme."

"Naruto...? Dobe, what the hell-?!"

Then suddenly he could see again, finding the room and the bed he was lying on to be his own sleeping quarters. It was starting to get dark outside, the sun was setting behind the trees and in comparison to the midnight-darkness he had just left it all looked extremely bright to him.

Squinting his eyes against the sharp light he turned his head and spotted Naruto sitting in the chair in the corner of his bedroom, wearing one of those mischievous grins that Sasuke had learned long ago meant trouble. His jumpsuit jacket was hanging nonchalantly thrown over the back of the chair and Sasuke noticed that Naruto also was shoe-less.

"Slept well?" the blonde asked sweetly and Sasuke's surprised scowl quickly got replaced with a glare.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side with mirth sparkling in his eyes.

"You're not going to tell me to let you go? Funny, I thought that would be prior number one."

"Don't worry, I'll get there. Now tell me what you did and we can get to details later."

Naruto sighed and leaned back.

"I made you fall asleep. I didn't think it would work that fast though, you caught me a bit off guard."

"Fall asleep?" Sasuke asked "How?"

Naruto smirked.

"How about I show you that later, ne? Right now I need you to be wide awake for a while."

"You bet I'll be awake. _Now_ would you please let me go so that I can kick your ass!"

"Not yet, silly. I still haven't shown you the surprise."

If possible, Sasuke thought that the grin on the blonde's face widened even further before the blonde slowly stood up from the chair and walked up to the bed, squatting down beside it and looking at the raven lying there.

"I bet you wonder how come you can't move, right?" he asked gleefully.

Sasuke didn't answer him, even if he had to admit that yes, he was.

As an answer to his unspoken question, Naruto reached his hand down into the right pocket of his trousers and when he pulled it up again Sasuke's jaw almost hit the ground.

"That's... It can't...! _You_ can't...! _I destroyed that thing_!"

"Really? You did?" He looked at the voodoo doll in his hand and draped one of his fingers across it's eyes. Sasuke twitched as his vision instantly went black, but relaxed again as it returned when Naruto moved the finger away.

"Seems like it works fine too me."

Sasuke glared at the despicable object in front of him, the reason to his immobility now completely clear.

The voodoo doll's arms had been tied with a thick piece of string so that they were locked against it's waist, the string looped like a belt so that it used the doll's own body as a shackle.

The doll's legs were also tied tightly together all the way from the waist down, making Sasuke's thoughts once again wander towards the image of an irregular stick.

"How?" he asked, not taking his eyes away from the doll.

Naruto shook his head slowly and 'tsked' at him.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. Didn't you read the fine print?"

He got up from his perch next to the bed and walked over to the black leather book that was lying on the table next to the bed and began flipping the pages.

"You left this at my apartment. I was going to return it, but then I decided to look through it one more time... Ah, here it is!" He cleared his throat, making such a big scene in trying to look all professional that Sasuke half expected him to reach up and adjust a pair of imaginative glasses.

"I quote; '_The doll can only be used by the wielder, preventing usage by anyone else who might pick it up by mistake Note that the jutsu also cannot be ended by anyone else but the wielder.' _End quote."

He closed the book with a mute snap and threw it to the side again.

"Apparently, the things you took were only needed to perform the jutsu, not keep it active, which means that the doll will keep on working as long as _I want it_ to."

He grinned again and went back to squat down next to Sasuke's head.

"And as I see it, you really don't have much to say in the matter."

Sasuke glared at him, but when the blonde didn't show any signs of caring he simply sighed, admitting defeat. He wasn't going anywhere soon, he could tell that much.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

The smirk he received back from the blonde immediately alerted him that of all the things he could have asked, _that _had been the wrong thing.

"Who me?" Naruto leaned down and gave him a shallow kiss on the lips before pulling back again, this time the innocent expression gone and replaced with the most perverted smirk Sasuke had ever seen.

"I'm going to play with some dolls."

He climbed up on the bed and over the restricted body of his boyfriend and flopped down at the foot of the bed so that he faced Sasuke, leaning his head against the footboard.

"I've invented a little game." He declared and held up the doll in front of him.

"It's called 'Finding Sasuke's Hot Spots'. I haven't figured out all the rules yet, but I guess I can just make them up as I go, don't you agree?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to tell the moron that he most certainly didn't fucking _agree_, but he was silenced when Naruto pressed a finger against the dolls mouth, looking at him with a smug expression.

"I thought you weren't going to like it, or at least not yet. That's why you don't get to make up the rules. Now, I'll show you how the game works. You see, first you need a tied up Sasuke, preferably in a bedroom where you can be sure not to be disturbed." he eyed the raven on the bed and then the room they were in.

"Check. Then you need a voodoo doll that's been set to only affect Sasuke." He looked at the voodoo doll.

"Check. And then, most importantly, because otherwise it wouldn't be any fun; You need Sasuke's cooperate boyfriend, Naruto, to play the game. Check."

He held up a lecturing finger and waved it around slightly.

"Now, pay attention, because this is where the fun starts. Naruto holds the voodoo doll, like this, and then it is his job to find every single one of Sasuke's hot spots so that he can turn him into a trembling, moaning, stuttering mess that will then beg Naruto to fuck him mercilessly into the mattress. Do you understand? Great!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as the last piece of instructions were explained, but he never got a chance to answer if he understood or not because his protests got smothered when Naruto ran a finger down the voodoo doll's spine.

Sasuke yelped and arched his back towards the ceiling, but of course that didn't help much since the finger he tried to get away from technically didn't touch him.

From the other side of the bed Naruto grinned at him.

"See, that's a spot I already knew about. You're lower back is extremely sensitive, did you know that?"  
As if proving a point he began to draw lazy circles with his nail at the narrow part of the doll's back, making Sasuke swallow yet another startled gasp when he felt the same swirling sensation against his own skin.

It was an extremely weird feeling and since he was lying with his back down against the mattress, still fully clothed, it almost felt as if the feeling came from underneath his own skin instead of against it.

"So that's one spot." Naruto said. "Now, I wonder where the next one might be...?"

He slowly let the finger move up and down the back of the voodoo doll until it suddenly dropped and began moving in firm circles against its butt.

Sasuke squirmed slightly at the sudden change of location before relaxing when the motion suddenly stopped.

"C'mon Sasuke, don't be so modest. I can tell you want to tell me something."

"Except for the many ways I'm going to kill you when I get out of this?" was the growled out answer.

"Actually, I was hoping for something along the lines of 'Mmm, Naruto' or 'Please, more', but I guess that'll have to do for now."

"You sick little-gah!"  
"Oh look, I found another one!" Naruto chirped happily and scraped his nail against the doll's inner thigh, causing a wild spasm to travel trough the Uchiha's legs.

"How does that feel?"

"Like I-...ah...! Like I want to k-kick your face in!"

Naruto tapped his finger lightly against his chin before solemnly shaking his head.

"Hmm, no, not the feeling I was looking for."

He eyed the other man up and down before he suddenly shifted and came up to rest his head next to Sasuke's shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing now?" Sasuke groaned.

"I want you to see clearly what I'm doing. You were squinting your eyes so I though you wanted to."

Luckily for Sasuke, the blonde didn't have his face turned towards him in that moment because the Uchiha's cheeks suddenly flared bright pink.

Okay, so he had been looking, so what?! He just wanted to see what that perverted moron was going to do to him so that he could mentally prepare himself in order to-...

"Ughn...!"

"Three."

This time Naruto had spread two of his fingers on either side of the dolls chest and began rubbing down towards the stomach in slow, circular movements, only to find that he barely had to press down at all to get a massive amount of reactions from his lover. Sasuke was trashing and arching, suddenly with his eyes shut, his teeth gritted and breathing rapidly through his nose.

Naruto raised a brow and craned his neck so that he could look at him and stopped the movement, thinking that the other probably wouldn't be able to speak clearly if he kept it up.

"Wow, bastard. I had no idea you were so sensitive there."

Sasuke opened his eyes and tried to glare, but the hostility of it got marred due to his excessive panting.

"Evil... Son of a... bitch."

Naruto's eyes gleamed as his face adopted a mask of innocent unawareness.

"Evil? Sasuke, are you saying that this..."

He repeated the movement once more and Sasuke bit back a groan.

"... tickles?"

Sasuke didn't reply, but the glower he shot the blonde was answer enough.

Naruto pouted, as out of disappointment, but then he shone up and rolled over to his stomach, looking up at the raven.

"Let's see if we can fix that then, shall we?" he beamed and before Sasuke could really get a grip on what the moron was doing Naruto lowered his head and licked the tip of his tongue across the doll's chest.

_Oh God._

There wasn't much room for any more thoughts than that when the sensation got registered by Sasuke's brain.

Slick. Hot. Sensation.

It still tickled, oh yes it did, but this was a completely different kind of tickle. He wasn't sure if he wanted Naruto to do it harder, faster or stop it completely.

Of course he would never admit it, but the truth was that he actually whimpered at the loss when the feeling suddenly disappeared when Naruto stopped to prop himself up on his elbows, giving him a evaluating look before he sighed deeply.

"You know, Sasuke. I have a confession to make."

Sasuke looked at him, not really being fit to speak just yet and Naruto took it as a sign that he was listening.

"During that mission, I used the doll on you when you were sleeping."

Sasuke's jaw dropped and he was about to say something along the lines of 'what the hell-' when Naruto scooted closer, letting his lips move tenderly against his ear.

"Do you want to know what I did?"

He felt the blonde's lips stretch out in a smirk before a tongue snaked it's way along his earlobe and gave it a flick.

"I made you cum in your sleep for me." Naruto breathed out huskily and for a moment or two the purring sound of that sex-covered voice was the only thing Sasuke registered, but then the full meaning of the blonde's words crushed down on him with the same force as a ton of bricks.

"You _what_?!"

He turned his head so sharply he almost head-butted the blonde, but Naruto had already moved away and he was smiling that perverted smile again.

"I made you cum in your sleep. Using this." He held up the voodoo doll before he leaned in and breathed out hotly against Sasuke's lips.

"I almost made you moan my name, bastard. You liked having my hands on your body, I just didn't realise that they were mine in that little dream of yours as well... I gave you a really good time didn't I...? _Sasuke-baby..._ "

The raven's jaw dropped.

_Sasuke-baby. _

It took a couple of seconds, but then his brain kicked back into gear and he remembered where he had heard that nick-name before.

He _knew_ that dream had felt too realistic to be normal! He _knew_ it!

Naruto had molested him! In his sleep! But... he did it _before_ he knew the truth about what Sasuke felt? Of his own free will had he...?

Wait a minute.

He had _molested_ him?

_Watched _him as he-...

His face suddenly flared dark crimson out of embarrassment when the imagery of the scenario hit his brain.

"You pervert!" he sputtered out. "You raped me in my sleep?!"

"Hey, I _molested_ you, I didn't rape you." Naruto defended himself. "Besides, as you pointed out before; you can't rape the willing."

Sasuke tried to say something but Naruto firmly placed a finger across the doll's mouth, silencing him.

"And _you_, my dear Uchiha, were very willing. Actually, you were begging me for it."

He looked up at Sasuke, and suddenly his face was dead serious.

"I wanted to tell you, because I thought that you obviously have the right to know. I thought about saying something earlier, but I never found the time to. I didn't want you to be mad at me."

Then his lips parted in a new fox grin and the thumb resting on the voodoo doll's leg began tracing lightly up and down in a smooth caressing motion.

"So, you think you can find the mercy to forgive me for not being able to keep my hands off your sexy person, or are you going to go chidori on your house again?"

The question got followed by a shallow rub over the voodoo dolls groin and Sasuke's glare faltered once again.

"I won't say that I regret doing it, because I don't." Naruto mumbled, still tracing feathery light touches over various places on the doll's body.

"The truth is that I liked it. More than I wanted to admit to myself back then. All those sounds you made..." He ignored the undignified croak that came from Sasuke at the last statement and leaned down with his head so that his lips ghosted against the doll's collarbone.

"All those sexy noises..." he whispered, causing a wild quiver to rake through the Uchiha's body. "They've been haunting me, you know. Every time I saw you I could hear you moan and beg in the back of my head. I had dreams about you, and before I came clean to myself about what they meant I must say that I too thought that I was going crazy..."

He removed the finger from the doll's mouth, but Sasuke didn't say anything, he just looked at him, listening.

"I'm sorry that I took advantage of you. But I don't regret it. I would probably still be living in denial if I hadn't done it, and you would still be walking around glaring daggers at me and Sakura for all eternity." His lips curved into a smile. "And I would never have found out what a great kisser you are either. So... will you forgive me? ...Again?"

Sasuke gave him a long, blank look before he slowly raised a brow at him.

"You _do _know what kind of a retarded sense of timing you have, don't you?"

"Yeah..."

"And you _do_ realise that you're a fucked up pervert and that I'm going to get back at you later?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side, simply smiling wider and Sasuke sighed deeply.

"Alright, you're forgiven, but I still feel abused and violated, so don't think that I gave you an all clear just now."

A sparkle glimmered in Naruto's eyes and his goofy smile slowly turned into a smug grin.

"Being violated isn't always bad, you know."

Sasuke frowned, but watched as Naruto slowly skimmed his finger across the doll's back.

"You know, I've always wondered... just how sensitive you are..." he pointed to the place where Sasuke's cursed seal was to be located and shot the raven a glance. "...right here."

Sasuke's heart stopped.

"No." he said firmly, for a moment forgetting that he was the underdog in the situation.

"You are sensitive, I know that, but it would be fun to know exactly how much." Naruto went on as if he didn't hear him.

"Naruto, _no_."

Naruto glanced at him and slowly licked his lips.

"I think I'll just have to find out."

And with that he lowered his head and began licking the nape of the doll's neck with the tip of his tongue in short, fast strokes that were so shallow that they barely made contact with the soft surface. He watched as Sasuke's eyes screwed shut and how the raven open his mouth and let out a moan that made the pit of Naruto's stomach twist with arousal.

Sasuke's was squirming underneath the burning touch, his head trashing form one side to the other, all the while gasping and moaning loudly as what seemed to be flashes of lightning shot through him. His hands clenched at his sides and he wanted to dig his heels into the mattress but couldn't, his entire body suddenly tensed and rigid without the ability to relax for a single second.

Vaguely he was aware of the fact that he was trying to say something, but found that he couldn't perform a single word, the only thing escaping his mouth being monosyllabic sounds that had 'pure pleasure' stamped all over them.

_Oh__ God, oh God, oh God, oh God…_

The invisible ropes around his body forced him to lie there and simply take the onslaught of Naruto's tongue that was sending him into this blissful torture, not able to communicate properly or move as much as an inch during the whole time.

Damn that stupid tarnished patch of skin! He could feel it staring to surge and spin, crawling and squirming though his entire body. It was maddening, he couldn't take it, he couldn't, he just _couldn't_! He was loosing his breath, he couldn't think, all too consumed by the feeling of how _good_ it was.

_Oh God...oh fuck... oh fuck... Oh FUCK!_

Naruto smiled, knowing that he now had the Uchiha right where he wanted him. There would be no more complaints or insults from this point on, he could tell from the way Sasuke's breath hitched with each stroke of his tongue.

The famous Uchiha's icy hostility was melting away, and Naruto couldn't be happier.

Encouraged, he lowered his head and swirled the tip of the wet muscle in swift, narrow circles over the upper part of the doll's chest, watching how the change of location and pace coaxed new and different sounds from his partner's throat.

"Still tickles, Teme?" he asked mockingly.

"Na-...! I... Ah…"

"I take that as a no."

Naruto grinned and suddenly flipped the doll over and slowly ran the flat side of his tongue all the way along the back of the doll's body from the calves to the neck enjoying the way Sasuke's eyes flew open and the violent shudder that travelled through his frame.

For a moment he hesitated, giving Sasuke a few seconds to breathe before he slipped his tongue in between the doll's legs, lightly flipping it against the insides of the plush limbs.

Sasuke's eyes twitched as he followed the motion of the wet organ and his breath hitched when he felt it move up against the back of his pressed together thighs.

"Naruto..."

"Ah-ah?" Naruto answered, still with his tongue out.

"Ng... D-don't..."

"Uaii?"

"Be... cause... because..."

Sasuke wasn't one to beg. Being an Uchiha, begging wouldn't even be part of his vocabulary if it hadn't been for the fact that he had heard other people do it during the years.

No, Uchiha Sasuke wasn't supposed to be able to beg, but despite that deep-rooted instinct, he was vaguely aware of that right now, technically, he was in fact begging, and the scary part was; he didn't care.

All he knew was that if Naruto did _that_, _now_, he would go crazy.

He was tied up with ropes he couldn't see or feel, and his boyfriend was sadistically pleasuring him to the point of madness without even laying a physical hand on him using a voodoo doll, which Sasuke had been sure was gone and over with and yes, he was _begging_.

And he didn't care. He didn't give a shit about if he was begging, pleading or fucking praying, he just knew that Naruto could not, under any circumstances be allowed to do _that_ to him!

He might be held as a hostage, and he might have sunken so low that he was resorting to begging, but he still had _some_ pride damn it!

Of course he should have known that it wouldn't make a difference. Naruto loved seeing him like this, all helpless and on the edge, the whimpers only making it so much more fun.

As Naruto let the tongue slide up in between the doll's two nonexistent buttocks Sasuke let out a strangled cry and his onyx eyes rolled back when Naruto repeated the action over and over, faster and harder, always avoiding the doll's groin with accurate precision.

Sasuke could feel the tip of Naruto's tongue move in and up between his legs, he could feel the heat it radiated as it moved to slide up against the most private part of his body and something inside him told him that this was wrong, that this was humiliating and beyond his dignity, but _god it felt so good_!

Unaware of it he began moving his body in time with the long strokes of Naruto's tongue, wanting more of the wonderful friction it caused, even though he knew that nothing he did would be able to affect the situation since it was the pressure on the doll that made the difference.

Naruto saw how his lover was squirming and as his tongue kept up it's work he slowly let his thumbs move up to the area where he assumed the nipples would be located and began rubbing slowly at first, then going faster and concentrating on the spots that brought out the most satisfying sounds from the other.

Sasuke was moaning and trashing his body from side to side as much as his restrains would allow him, obviously not knowing what to do with himself. There was no question about the fact that the raven was excited, it only took one look at the front of his pants to realise that and Naruto wasn't sure about if he would be able to stick to just the doll for much longer.

"That's spot four and five, Sasuke." He said and looked up at the panting Uchiha. "Do you know if there's any left?"

Sasuke barely had the energy to open his eyes and look at the blonde, less enough to come up with an answer. He was sure Naruto noticed because the blonde just smiled at him and then he very slowly placed the doll on the bedside table.

"Well, I have a few ideas of where to find some, but unfortunately the doll won't help me with that one. It lacks certain... _parts_."

He stretched himself out so that he was lying right next to Sasuke and then he leaned in on him, breathing throatily against the raven's temple.

"Like ears..." A tongue snaked across the shell of his ear, moistening the soft skin before blowing at it. Sasuke felt a hand sneak its way up his leg and settle on his stomach as Naruto's head slowly dipped down to lick it's way down his throat.

"...and neck..."

Sasuke heard the words being whispered softly against his skin and then he winced as Naruto bit down loosely at the junction between his neck and shoulder before moving down to the collarbone. The hand on his stomach slowly pushed his sweater up to expose his chest and then began to circle the fingernails loosely up and down the length of his torso. Earlier that had tickled like hell, but right now it only felt good, like a promise of more sweeter things to come.

Naruto's head dipped lower and his tongue darted out to lick at a dusky nipple while his hand was slowly pinching and tweaking the other, causing Sasuke's breath to hitch.

"I bet this feels a lot better than earlier, doesn't it? Now that I can do stuff like this..."

He rolled the already hardened bud between his teeth, biting down loosely and tugging at it before releasing and flicking it with the tip of his tongue.

"Your entire body seems to be one big hot zone, Sasuke. You never really got into the whole physical contact thing earlier, did you?"

Sasuke felt the blonde's weight switch and settle on top of him, sliding down until his chest was firmly lodged against his groin, each of the blonde's breaths increasing and decreasing the pressure put on his by now aching cock still trapped inside his trousers.

"I guess you've never had anyone this close to you before... touching you like this..." Naruto's hands nimbly slid down the sides of Sasuke's chest and stopped at the hem of his trousers.

"As a matter of fact, I bet you've hardly ever touched yourself either..."

Sliding his thumbs underneath the edge of the black fabric he deliberately brushed against the tip of the hard member, causing the dark haired boy to hiss loudly and he smirked.

"...which means that _this_ is going to feel reeeally good."

Slowly he eased the piece of clothing down as far as he could manage without getting up, exposing the upper part of Sasuke's penis to the fading sunlight that was shining in through the window.

Sasuke heard him whisper something that sounded like "yummy" and then he felt himself get surrounded by heat as Naruto's mouth engulfed him and he distantly thought that Naruto's definition of "reeeally good" was completely different from his own. This wasn't 'good', this was 'amazing'!

Naruto's tongue swirled around the head and down the vein on the bottom of Sasuke's cock, his lips tightening around and moving up and down the length in slow bobbing movements, sucking and hollowing his cheeks to create a light vacuum to increase the pleasure. Sometimes he would speed up the pace temporarily only to return to the same maddening slow suckling as before when he felt the other's body beginning to tense up.

Sasuke was trying to keep his breath even but the blonde's actions were so unpredictable that it insisted on hitching and causing trembling whimpers and moans to escape his lips every other second. When Naruto's teeth grazed against the hard flesh his hips bucked despite the invisible boundaries holding him down and his fists grappled the sheets so hard his knuckles cracked.

Naruto released the member from his mouth with a final suck and grinned up at his lover.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I think we've got a winner..."

He propped himself up so that he was standing on all fours above his boyfriend and grabbed hold of the throbbing muscle with his left hand began stroking it leisurely.

"Am I making you feel good, Sasuke?" he whispered, seeking eye contact with the raven underneath him, but failed since Sasuke's eyes were closed. However, he didn't fail in noticing the weak nod he made with his head and smiled even wider.

Who would have thought he would be able to render Sasuke speechless with just half a blow job? Damn, he must be better than he thought.

Slowing his movements down even more he maintained focus on the other's face.

"I didn't hear you, Sasuke. Or am I wrong? Doesn't this make you feel good?"

Sasuke peered at him through half lidded eyes and swallowed hard before he shook his head.

"Noooo? You're saying you want me to stop?"

"No... I-ah... You know what I... You... Stop teasing me!"

"Hmm... And if I do that, what would you suggest I'd do instead?" he asked, smearing out pre-cum over the tip of Sasuke's cock with his thumb, causing Sasuke's eyes to roll back and close again.

"For some reason... I think you've already... ng... got that planned."

Naruto tilted his head to the side and smiled before he leaned down and licked Sasuke's lower lip and kissed him softly.

"I have plans..." he admitted. "Or desires, whichever you prefer, but this isn't about what I want, really. The important thing now, is what _you_ want."

He nuzzled his nose against the Uchiha's neck, deliberately avoiding the spot for the cursed seal with only a split inch just to enjoy the sudden tension of the other's body.

"So why don't you just tell me what you want me to do, huh Sasuke? I'll do anything you ask. I'll do it for as long, as fast and hard as you want, I just want to hear you say it. So just say it, Sasuke... Tell me what it is that you really want..."

As he spoke he never once touched the seal with his lips or any other part of his body, but Sasuke could feel the breath that flowed over it with each and every word that poured out the blonde's mouth like warm honey, and that in it self was enough to awaken it again. Before Naruto had reached the end of his first sentence his entire body was prickling and tingling with wanton for something, _anything_ that involved more than just breath against his skin.

"Dobe... I'll tell you what..." He clenched his teeth when something feeling suspiciously much like a tongue darted out to slide across his neck to prevent another of those undignified cries from escaping his throat. Apparently Naruto didn't appreciate the sudden demanding tone in his voice and wanted to give him a little warning so that he wouldn't get too carried away with his demands. What choice did he have?

He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on something else than the warm air ghosting against his neck before he continued.

"I want you... to remove the ropes from that doll. You've been able to touch me all this time, while I've been forced to just lay here and I find that just a _tiny_ bit less evil than being held down and tickled. Fair?"

"Mhm... Fair..."

"Then I'm going to flip you over and kiss the living daylights out of you for a while, just to make us even."

"Mmm, I can live with that... And after that?"

"After that... I want you to stop fooling around and get a frickin _move on_ and get_ inside _me or I swear to God I'll- _argh_!"

Okay, bad move. Bad, bad, bad, _bad_ move!

"Na-! No... St-! Ah... ah!""

Hot! SO hot!

Naruto's lips were fire, the tongue was a scorching flame that licked his skin and sending his brain into turmoil. The seal on his shoulder was spinning so fast he could feel his chakra beginning to billow as it circulated past the spot and the sound of his pulse was so loud that it drench out any other sound except the one of his own harsh breathing and the wet lapping of Naruto's tongue against his marked skin.

"Naru-... Oh...! Fuck!"

"Patience..."

Patience!? There was no _time_ for Sasuke to be patient! The moron had no idea what he was doing to him!

The abnormal direction of his chakra flow had begun to affect his blood as well, causing it to run faster and hotter through his body which in turn meant that he was loosing control over himself. He tried to get the right words out, tried to make himself understandable enough to explain the situation and what was happening, but the words stumbled out in the wrong order, broken into pieces and syllables that he wouldn't be able to puzzle back together even if his life depended on it.

Somewhere in the back of his head he was aware of the fact that his Sharingan had activated itself, and from the sudden focus his vision had taken on he suspected that it was trying it's best to match the rotation speed of the cursed seal itself

His heart was racing, his head spinning and it didn't seem to be enough air in the entire room to fill up his lungs.

"Stop...! Naruto...wait...! I'm... I'm gonna... I'm-...!"

"Oh, I bet you are..." Naruto crooned and then Sasuke felt the hand around his member speed up it's movements and how Naruto's thumb began rubbing the head of the penis in swift circles. He barely had time to breath out a hoarse 'nng!' before a sharp, white light shot through his body and exploded into a multicoloured haze behind his eyes that left him moaning breathlessly and trashing his head from side to side. His body was throbbing and pulsating in time with his racing heartbeat and even through the blurry haze that covered his mind he was aware of the fact that Naruto was leaning down and nibbling on his ear while whispering soft, to him inconceivable words, into it with that low, purring voice of his that made his toes curl.

He was so occupied with the task of finding his senses again that he didn't notice when Naruto moved away from him, nor how the boundaries around his arms and legs loosened and disappeared when Naruto released the doll and tossed it back onto the bedside table.

He did however notice when the blonde leaned down and lapped at the head of his softening member and he gave a sharp hiss as his hand shot down and grappled a fistful of blonde hair and yanked it hard. Naruto winced at the sudden roughness but when he looked up he was wearing the same fox grin as usual.

Sasuke glared at him, spent and slightly panting, but glaring nonetheless.

"Dobe..."

"Mm?"

The moment after that Naruto's right cheek got backhanded by Sasuke's fist as the raven punched him in the face with a mute bang. Naruto's head would have been thrown back if it hadn't been for the tight grip Sasuke's other hand still had on his hair and the hard yank made it difficult for him to decide which hurt the most; his face or his scalp.

He didn't get the time to voice his discomfort though, because Sasuke wasn't done. Using the hair as a handle he pulled the blonde down and crashed their lips together so hard their teeth clashed. Naruto who was still in confusion after the blow against his jaw barely noticed the tongue that pressed into his mouth until it brushed against his own and the sensation coaxed a husky moan up his throat. Sasuke was regaining his dominant personality once again and when Naruto moaned he bit down onto his bottom lip with a low growl before pulling the blonde back by the hair again.

"You do this to me again, and I kill you." He hissed maliciously before releasing the blonde hair. Naruto swatted his hand away with a low snort before grinning and leaning down towards him again.

"Oh shut up, you know you liked it."

At that Sasuke smirked and pushed his leg up a little higher, causing his thigh to rub against the evident bulge that was being pressed against it, hitching Naruto's breath.

"So did you obviously." He mused.

"Mmm, yeah..." Naruto moaned voluptuously and rocked his hips slowly against Sasuke's legs, pretending he didn't see the light twitch the other's eye made at the action.

"I liked it _a lot_." He enhanced his words by slowly running his hand down his chest and thighs until it settled on top of Sasuke's still exposed stomach.

"You want me to show you..." he said and grabbed Sasuke's hand and guided it to splay suggestively against his hard groin, "...how much I liked it?"

Still holding on to Sasuke's wrist he began moving the hand in firm circles against his own arousal, rocking and grinding down against the Uchiha's leg at the same time.

Sasuke licked his lips, for some reason they had gone incredibly dry again, and stared at his hand that the blonde was rubbing so shamelessly against himself. He could feel the outline of the hardness on the other side of the rough fabric and it was almost in fascination as he slowly gripped around it with the edge of his fingertips, changing the course of his hand to rub in the direction of the length instead of simply pushing against it

His action made Naruto release a throaty moan and loosen the grip around his wrist lightly, choosing to simply follow along with the movement instead of guiding it.

"Sasuke... yesss..." he whispered, bucking his hips shallowly against the digits stroking him through his clothes.

Sasuke found his own breath growing heavier and Naruto's low mewls and rocking weight on the lower parts of his body was slowly starting to make him hard again.

"Enough..." Naruto's hand completely left Sasuke's wrist and he leaned back, jutting is hips forward. "Take it off..."

Sasuke didn't have to ask to understand what 'it' was and he pushed himself up into a sitting position so that he could pull off Naruto's t.shirt. Naruto moved closer, sitting fully on Sasuke's lap and as the raven reached down to make short work out of Naruto's trousers the blonde bent down and sucked at his collarbone, all the while rocking and rolling his hips against Sasuke's groin. Sasuke's cock was still halfway out of his own trousers, and the rough texture of both his and Naruto's clothes was rubbing almost painfully good against his sensitive skin. Trying his best not to groan loudly, Sasuke managed to pop the button of Naruto's pants, leaving him only with the zipper and soon after that both trousers and boxers were being yanked down as far as possible, Naruto's erection springing free.

It was a light stab to his pride to find that Naruto was actually bigger than him, but that thought was immediately chased away when another, more concerning one barged in and took it's place.

Sasuke wasn't stupid. Despite being a virgin he was very well aware of the physics that involved man-on-man sex, so of course he knew that one person was supposed to be 'taking' and the other 'giving' in the situation. Judging by what had been said earlier there was not a doubt in his mind which one of him and Naruto who would be doing the 'taking' and let's just say that the thought of getting Naruto's dick shoved up his ass was a little bit more worrying now that he had actually seen the size of it.

"It's rude to stare you know."

Sasuke snapped out of his temporary daze and glared at the blonde who was giving him a smug grin, wagging his hips suggestively.

"Though I can't blame you, it's quite a sexy sight, isn't it?"

Sasuke smirked and grasped the length lightly, giving it a few shallow pumps, efficiently replacing Naruto's grin with a startled gasp.

"You should tune that ego of yours down a little... Or it might get you in trouble one day..."

Naruto managed a weak smile.

"Y-you didn't deny that...ah... it was sexy."

"True."

Catching the blonde's lips in a new kiss he kept pumping him, relishing in the way it made the other writhe and squirm in the attempt to make him go faster. Sasuke had no intention on giving Naruto the same diabolic treatment he had been given earlier, but he wasn't about to give it to him all that easily either.

Naruto moaned into the kiss and raised his arms to wrap them around Sasuke's neck and fisting his hair. His hips were moving in time with Sasuke's hand, desperately trying to gain as much friction as possible and in turn grinding down on the raven's now evident hard-on.

"Fuck Sasuke..."

Suddenly Naruto pushed the raven back down against the bed again and unceremoniously tore the dark sweater off his head and threw it to the floor, proceeding down to pull at the garments that were still hanging on the Uchiha's hips.

With that simple action the pace of things immediately sped up and their movements grew increasingly frantic and hurried, the eagerness that had seemed so far away only moments ago taking command of the situation and causing their breathing to grow shallow and rapid.

Sasuke used his legs to push his trousers completely off at the same time as he tried to grapple at Naruto's orange counterpart, but the blonde had already beaten him to it so instead he grabbed hold of the golden hair and shoved his tongue into the kitsune's mouth with a feral groan, receiving an equally pleased one in return.

Naruto was on top of him now, his hands seemingly everywhere, holding on to him wherever he could reach as they shared sloppy but passionate kisses with their tongues sliding against one another in a wild dance without rhythm.

Sasuke felt pre-cum from Naruto's member smear of on his inner thigh when the blonde moved down to suck harshly on his collarbone and then proceed to his nipples, biting down loosely before he sat up and looked down on the panting raven underneath him.

"I'm done waiting..." he stated firmly. Sasuke nodded.

"Me too."

Not wasting time Naruto immediately stuck two of his fingers into his mouth and wrapped his tongue around them, wetting them until they were completely coated in saliva. Scooting down he grabbed Sasuke's leg and hoisted it up to rest on his shoulder before removing the fingers from his mouth and sliding them down the back of the pale thigh.

When the first digit pressed against his opening Sasuke's breath hitched and Naruto stopped and shot him a glance.

"Have you ever...? By yourself, I mean?"

Sasuke's eyes grew cold for a split second, but then he relaxed again.

"Once... or twice." A warning scowl was the only thing that prevented Naruto from laughing out loud.

"So you're saying..." he eased the finger in slowly, smirking at the small moan the raven made.

"...that you've only done this..."

He began moving the digit in and out leisurely.

"...once..."

Adding a second finger proved easy as Sasuke's body willingly opened up for him.

".. or twice?"

The fingers scissored around slowly, making room for a third finger and Sasuke gritted his teeth as he was stretched even further. Naruto looked at him calmly, studying the mixed expressions that flickered across his face.

"So how come you're body seems so used to this?" He stopped the motion of his fingers, drawing another wanton mewl from Sasuke.

"How come I'm able to fill you up so much, so fast, and you don't even as much as whimper?"

He grabbed hold of Sasuke's hips as the raven made an attempt to push further down on the fingers again, receiving a demuring glare which Naruto returned with a light tilt of his head.

"C'mon. You don't want me to hold back on you out of concern, right?"

Wiggling his fingers inside his lover as if to prove a point he then began moving them again, so slow Sasuke thought it would have been more merciful to keep them still.

"How many times have you've done this to yourself, hm? Are you even able to count them?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes back and groaned in frustration, deciding that his pride would have to take the fall this time.

"P-probably not..." he gritted out and then he answered the next question before the blonde even got the chance to ask. "And yes, I _did_ think of you, now can we _get on_ with it?"

"Impatient much?"

Naruto sounded like he was enjoying the situation tremendously, but he pulled out nonetheless and positioned himself in front of Sasuke's entrance, spreading Sasuke's other leg further to gain him better access.

"Wait."

Naruto froze mere millimetres away from his goal and stared at the other in confusion.

"What?"

"You think I'm gonna let you ram into me dry like that?"

"Eh...I..."

Sliding his leg off the blonde's shoulder he motioned for Naruto to lean back with an annoyed sigh.

"I may not be virgin-tight, but we're going to need to slick this up a bit."

"What do you-oh... aah..."

Naruto's body shuddered when Sasuke's lips wrapped around his penis and began sucking on it vigorously. The raven was kneeling in front of him with his hands resting on Naruto's thighs to prevent him from bucking up and doing a force-deep throat on him, but despite his attempts not to gag on the length in his mouth it proved to be hard work when Naruto's hand suddenly pushed his head further down, pleading him to go deeper, faster.

It was with an annoyed grunt that Sasuke swatted his hand away and straightened up again, ignoring the disappointed whimper that came from the male above him.

"There. Much better."

Naruto glared down at him, cheeks flushed red.

"Speak for yourself..."

Smirking, Sasuke moved over to push Naruto down on the covers and straddle him firmly.

"I'm speaking for both of us."

Propping himself up and positioning himself above Naruto's wet member he slowly began to ease himself down on it, small beads of sweat forming on his skin as he took it in, inch by inch. Naruto was having a hard time keeping his eyes open as they continuously tried to flutter close and his self-control was basically stretched to it's limits when the heat of Sasuke's body surrounded him.

He wanted to reach out and touch him, but for some reason his hands managed to grapple at everything except the raven on top of him, the sheets, the pillows, his own hair, but Sasuke's pale skin always remained just out of reach.

After what felt like an eternity Naruto was fully sheeted inside the raven and he could finally allow himself to breathe again without fear of exploding. A thin layer of sweat covered both of their bodies and when Sasuke opened his eyes and looked down he saw a single drop of glistening moisture run down the blonde's neck and settle in the little junction of his neck where it came to a rest, shimmering up at him in the dusk light.

A determined expression settled over the Uchiha's brow and he leaned forward and lapped up the salty liquid with the tip of his tongue, closing his eyes and analysing it's taste, storing it in the back of his mind where he had recently taken the habit of storing every single piece of information about his beloved blonde, to keep and relish in for his senses only.

"Finally..." he mumbled, half moaned as his hands found harbour on the tanned chest underneath him.

"What?" Naruto raised his head to look at him, but Sasuke pushed it down again with a firm kiss on his lips.

"Nothing." He didn't feel like sharing the story of his vendetta with that sweat drop with Naruto just yet. Besides, he had more pressing matters on his mind at the moment...

"Just... Move with me..."

Lifting himself up using the hands on Naruto's chest as support he began moving up and down in slow, even movements. This time Naruto's hands found Sasuke's shoulders and grabbed hold of them, not sure if he wanted to pull him closer or push him back. Sasuke's head was leaning forward, the hair covering his features in shadows and it annoyed Naruto not being able to see the other's expression. Pushing the other back to a more upright position he let his hand roam the pale chest in front of him, searching for the other's gaze as he did so, but found that Sasuke's eyes once again were shut.

"Sasuke... Look at me..."

Black eyes slowly peered open halfway and together with the flushed cheeks, the panting breath and the few sweaty strands of hair sticking to his face it all turned into a very erotic sight.

Naruto lowered his hands to grip firmly around Sasuke's hips and then a lewd grin sneaked across his lips.

"There's one spot left, Sasuke." He drawled smugly.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he opened up his mouth to say something, but instead of words the sound emerging from his lips was a loud cry of surprise mixed with pleasure when Naruto rammed into him, hitting previously named spot head on. He slumped forward to brace himself against Naruto's chest once again and that's when Naruto pounded into him for the second time. Sasuke managed to gasp out a choked 'oh, god' before a new lust filled yell tore it's way from his throat. His nails dug into caramel skin as stars danced in front of his eyes with each thrust that struck home inside him. Naruto was watching him through half lidded eyes, tracing every curve and line of his body while continuing to move inside him, pulling out almost entirely before slamming back in, enjoying the way it made the raven above him writhe and moan breathlessly.

The pace was fast but still controlled, Naruto lifting and lowering Sasuke's body and Sasuke doing his best to keep up with the blonde's rhythm, both panting and groaning with pleasure.

Naruto could feel Sasuke's hips shake underneath his hands when he drove into him and the choked out words the raven was emitting were putting him in a state of ecstatic frenzy that almost had him stumbling on the edge already. And to make things harder, Sasuke had begun to speed up even more, slamming down on him harder than before.

Naruto gasped out loudly when the nails on his chest clawed into his skin for the second time and he grabbed Sasuke's wrists hotly, but he didn't try to move them away.

Sasuke's lips were moving, but no words where coming out anymore and Naruto suddenly got overwhelmed by the need of kissing those lips, deeply, _fiercely_ and before Sasuke had the chance to react, Naruto shoved him to the side and rolled them over, himself coming out on top and Sasuke on the bottom before he claimed entrance to the Uchiha's mouth with his tongue. Sasuke wrapped his legs around Naruto's waist and threw his arms around his neck while responding to the kiss with a loud groan, clinging to his love for all he was worth as their new positions sent waves of heat sweeping through his body with each new thrust.

Naruto's hands were steadily planted on either side of the raven's head, supporting the weight of his body, but it wasn't enough, Sasuke wanted contact, he wanted _friction_, he wanted to _feel_. He tightened his grip around Naruto's neck and yanked him closer with a growled out 'more' between their mouths and rose his hips to meet with the blonde's thrusts, hearing Naruto give a surprised gasp at the action.

Their breaths mingled with each other's as the pace picked up once again, their bodies pulled together tightly and grinding against one another in heated earnest.

Sasuke threw his head back into the pillows when wave after wave of that overwhelming heat surged through him with shorter and shorter intervals, growing more intense by the second.

His hands dropped to grasp around Naruto's lower back and arched his own from the bed while pulling them even closer, grinding his hard-on in between their bodies over and over until the warmth flowing through his body began growing in force and the muscles in his abs started to twitch and spasm.

"Na-... I'm..."

Naruto nodded.

"Together..."

"Ah... Naruto, now... Now!"

"Sa-ah...!"

The world disappeared unto a haze of blinding white light, but unlike Sasuke's first orgasm which had been more like an explosion, this one felt like being slowly engulfed in liquid sunlight, flowing over his senses like a tidal wave set on slow motion. His breath caught in his throat as the feeling seemed to last forever, and in the back of his head he registered the hissed out curse Naruto made before collapsing on top of him and nuzzling his face against his neck.

Sasuke's entire body was twitching and for some reason he couldn't stop his hands from stroking and half clawing at Naruto's back, as if repeating that action would make the orgasm last longer.

The wave slipped back just as slowly as it had appeared, leaving both of them panting and gasping for air against each other's skin and slowly Sasuke's hands slowed in their movements and settled with light strokes instead of the desperate clinging from before.

Of course, Naruto was the first to break the silence, but for once he did it in a low, subtle voice, almost as if he was a bit stunned by the situation.

"That was..." instead of finishing the sentence he planted a firm kiss on Sasuke's neck just below the ear and sighed contently.

"Why did you let me stall this for so long?" he finally managed to get out and to his surprise he received a low chuckle in return.

"Don't know. Maybe because you looked so cute when you were being pushed up against a wall, trying to get those ridiculous protests and objections out between gasps and moans while I..."

"Okay, okay, I get it! Man, you didn't have to paint it out so vividly."

Sasuke chuckled again and then he surprised Naruto for a second time by giving him a kiss on the cheek before sighing and laying his head back down on the pillow and closing his eyes.

Naruto sighed and leaned his head down against Sasuke's shoulder again. A light shiver travelled through his body at the feel of Sasuke's nails that were gently raking down his spine and he let out a pleased moan.

That must have been one heck of an orgasm... sorry, orgasm_**s**_ to make Sasuke cuddle of his own free will like that.

A lewd grin slowly spread over the whiskered face.

"So I take it you had a good time just now, right?"

Sasuke didn't open his eyes, but the nails on Naruto's back suddenly dug into his skin warningly, but Naruto didn't pay it much attention.

"Man, I _am_ good!"

"Shut up before I change my mind about this whole relationship-thing."

"Nah, you wouldn't. Not when I'm such a sex-god, oh-ah-ah-mm-mm- OW!" He swayed his hips from side to side while humming out his little victory-tune, but stopped abruptly when Sasuke's nails shot down and buried themselves in his ass cheeks.

"Don't move around, Dobe, you'll make a mess!"

"Oh, aren't you the prude, worrying about your sheets?" Naruto frowned, but he stopped swaying, mostly because Sasuke's hands were still digging into his skin and made it painful to move.

"It's pretty messy already, don't you think? And we can't stay like this forever you know."

The grip on his ass softened and Sasuke rolled his eyes to the ceiling, admitting defeat.

"Alright, but since this was your idea, you get to change the sheets."

"Only if you take a shower with me first."

One corner of Sasuke's lips quirked upwards at the blonde's rather compromising demand and his right hand gave one of the firm butt cheeks a light squeeze.

"Deal."

--

_-Two weeks later -_

--

Sasuke was pacing back and forth on his porch, rolling a white rock in the palm of his hand while casting impatient glances at the sun that was about start sinking behind the tree tops.

Where _was_ he?! The Dobe should have been back almost two hours ago!

His eyes fluttered to look through the living room towards the hallway when he thought he heard the front door open for what must have been the hundredth time in the last hour, only to discover that of course, there was no Dobe to be seen.

He had considered going out to look for him, but then what if Naruto came back while he was out and they walked in circles around each other?

No, he had to stay here, but damn it the suspense was _killing_ him!

The rock in his hand was a conscious attempt to calm himself down, but it seemed as if the rock's soothing influence on his mind only worked when he wasn't aware of that he was doing it, but he still refused to let it go.

He wouldn't admit his concern if the moron asked him, of course not, he had worked too hard to put up this non-caring facade to let it be seen through that easily, but if the idiot didn't walk in through that door within the next fifteen minutes, _somebody_ was going to be in trouble within sixteen.

He glared in through the hallway again as if his stare would be able to will the front door to open and reveal the orange menace also known as his boyfriend and from-this-day-on live-in lover, but no such thing happened. With a grunt he stalked over to the far end of the porch, out of sight of the despicable door and sat down, looking out over the garden.

The small violet and blue flowers covering the ground had begun to wither by now, but there were still plenty of other sorts to go around, plus that the ones for the fall-season would begin to sprout any day now, according to Naruto anyway.

It had been a light surprise for him to find out that the blonde was interested in gardening; he sure hadn't seemed the type. Gardening and flowers was a hobby that required a great deal of patience and for some _odd_ reason that word didn't seem to fit in well with the hyperactive bundle of energy Sasuke had let into his home.

Still, it also seemed to fit in extremely well. He didn't know why, and he had given up trying to find the explanation and had just decided to accept that some things in life simply weren't supposed to have a logic explanation. At least not when it came to _that_ guy.

A small creak from within the house caught his attention, and he turned his head towards it, expecting to hear the nowadays familiar sound of footsteps moving through the house approaching the porch, but heard nothing more.

He looked at the sun again.

Ten minutes. Ten more minutes and _then_ he would go look for him.

Again the unpleasant thoughts that he had tried to suppress during the last hour began stirring in the back of his head, and even though he tried not to listen they still managed to make themselves heard.

What if something had gone wrong? What if he got injured? What if he got _killed_? This was serious business after all...

He abruptly stood up and threw the rock onto the ground.

That's it, he couldn't wait any longer!

Marching into the living room he made his way through the house, mind working frantically as he reached out to grab his jouninvest from the coat rack.

He would start at Ichiraku's, then he would go to the hospital, just to make sure, and then he would...

Just when he was about to reach for the handle, the door suddenly opened up in front of him and revealed a slightly ruffled, but very much alive Uzumaki Naruto.

For a split second they just stood there and looked at each other and then Naruto nodded towards the green vest in Sasuke's hands.

"You're going out?"

Sasuke quickly put the vest back on the coat rack and straightened up.

"No. I was just checking my pocket for something."  
Naruto grinned and stepped inside the hallway and closed the door behind him.

"Ah, okay."

Sasuke eyed the blonde up and down, ignoring the light bruise that adorned one of the whiskered cheeks when he saw what the dobe was wearing.

"So..." he said slowly, one corner of his mouth pulling up in a light smile. "I take it that you managed to pull it off after all."

One of the blonde's hands reached up to gently skim across the rough surface of the green jouninvest he was wearing over his jumpsuit jacket and the grin on his face widened tremendously.

"Yeah... I guess I did."

* * *

--

**MUST READ BEFORE LEAVING – YOU'LL BE SORRY IF YOU DON'T!!**

--

There, done! 20 pages of pure smut alá NaruSasu, at your disposal!

And for those of you who didn't get the end; he got through the jounin exam! That's how this entire mess started, remember??

I hope you all enjoyed it and that you'll stick around to read my other fics as well, both existing and soon to be made so.

And, just because you all have been so supportive I've decided to **give you a little treat**!

**Yay for treats**!

However... There's a little catch.

**If, **_**if**_** I get 1000 reviews to this story, you'll get a bonus smut-chapter!**

Yes,**SMUT**, as in molestation, groping, shudders, moans and mind-blowing orgasms!

But of course I'm not talking about reviews that just say 'good', 'awesome' or contains any other single-worded summaries, I'm talking about _real_ reviews. That's the kind that consists of more than one sentence, folks...

Of course, single worded reviews are welcome as well, but they won't count in the smut-calculator.

So... you give me dah **reviews**, I give you dah **smex**. Deal?

**Yaoi 4-ever!!**

* * *


	12. Payback s a Bitch

**Oh. My. God.**

**I have been such a lazy ass writer, I'm ashamed of myself.**

**I know I promised you an extra smut-chapter if this story got one thousand reviews, which some apparently considered to be a dirty trick to get publicity (???) but I have a little confession to make...**

**Truth is, I had this extra chapter planned from the start. In fact this isn't even an extra chapter, this is the real ending. **

**When I was about to start this chapter, I was going through a rough patch when it came my lovelife.**

**I had just found myself being used by some guy who didn't really want me at all, classic story nothing new underneath the sun, but let's just say that I didn't exactly feel inspired to write smut och love stories at that particular time.**

**Anyway, I got out of my rut and found myself a real man, and then I didn't have the time to write lovestories since I was currently living it, hehe.**

**But now I've pulled myself together and got my rutine going again, and I hope you'll forgive me for being late.**

**Here it is, the final chapter that (hopefully) you've been waiting for. Enjoy. **

* * *

**Payback's a Bitch...**

Sasuke removed his hand from the item on the table in front of him and eyed it up and down, feeling a little bit... well... disappointed.

It didn't look very different.

He carefully picked the item up and looked at it from the back as well, but there was no indication that something would have happened to it.

Gnawing on his bottom lip in thought he went over the procedure in his head once again, but he was absolutely sure that he had executed the steps correctly.

Perhaps it needed some kind of other activation?

Testing his theory, he jabbed a finger into the object and immediately there was a loud ruckus heard from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of porcelain shattering.

A wicked smile crept over the Uchiha's lips.

"Naruto, you alright in there?" he called out, not letting as much as a scrap of his amusement be heard in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just... dropped something."

Had Sasuke not been the kind of man he was, he would have doubled over with laughter, but as an Uchiha he remained his cool and simply slid the object silently into his pocket.

It seemed to be working fine. The only thing he would have been happy to change were the rather ridiculously looking details that he had been forced to create, but for the sake of the purpose they had to be there.

"Dobe, we're running late. You can take care of the dishes later."

He had barely finished his sentence before the blonde ray of sunshine poked his head into the bedroom and fired off a blinding smile.

"Already done. That plate was the last."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the ceiling. Of course Naruto would be the one person to find something positive in a busted piece of table wear.

"How lucky. Let's get going then before someone else gets our spot."

It had been five days since Naruto had come home with his green jounin vest after successfully passing the jounin exam. Normally you had to be a chuunin to take the exam, but after considering Naruto's powers and after having a long talk with the council, Tsunade had given him the go-ahead to take it despite his genin-rank. He had pulled through with two cracked ribs, a blue eye –not counting the two he already had lodged into his skull- and a couple of bruises, which turned out to be quite few injuries if you looked at the ones who failed.

Needless to say, he blonde had been quite exhausted and had spent the following twenty-four hours sleeping to regain his energy. Thanks to the Kyuubi his physical injuries healed in an incredible speed and now, finally, he was completely restored and they were going out to celebrate.

Sasuke had made reservations on a restaurant that Naruto had never been to and he had promised to buy Naruto whatever he wanted there. And they _did_ serve ramen which meant that Sasuke was going to receive one hell of a tab when they were done.

But hey, a promise's a promise, right?

Naruto had been teasing his boyfriend about this being their first 'real date', but they both knew that once in public they would behave like they always did – bickering, arguing... possibly fighting – since none of them felt exactly ready to come out to everyone about their intimate relationship quite yet. Moving in together could be given a thousand excuses that sounded at least somewhere near reasonable - snogging each other in a public restaurant could not!

---------------

---------------

On the way through town Sasuke didn't say much. Not that he usually did, but Naruto thought that there was something different about this silence...less broody somehow, as if the raven was actually looking forward to take Naruto to dinner.

The thought made him both happy and maybe just a tiny bit suspicious, but he quickly forgot all about Sasuke's lack of conversation skills and weird aura as soon as they arrived at the restaurant and went inside.

Say what you wanted about Sasuke's attitude, but the guy had _class_!

The restaurant that the raven had picked out was very discreet with dim lightings and a dark oak interior. There was a high-polished, curved bar counter on the far side of the room overlooking the spacious saloon where small, round tables with white table-linens and glass candle holders had been placed. One of the three remaining walls had small, rounded windows that were placed high enough to prevent insight from by passers, while the other two walls were occupied by open booths for guests who wanted a bit more privacy and it was in such a booth Naruto and Sasuke were seated when they arrived.

When the waitress disappeared to fetch them their menus Naruto looked across the table and gave the raven a flirtatious smile.

"Wow, bastard, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to get into my pants. First date and everything."

Sasuke leaned back against the tall seat and crossed his arms with a confident smirk.

"I don't need candlelight and a cheesy setting to do that, Dobe. As you know."

"I could tell you the same. What was it you said last night again? That thing about you being able to bend your legs-..."

"Finish that sentence and I'll make you eat nothing but sallad, smartass."

"I just wanted to remind you of who gets and who gives in this relationship."

Grinning like an idiot Naruto straightened up and leaned back in his seat as well, spreading both arms and legs out in a lewd pose that made sure of showing every single one of Sasuke's favourite parts of his body.

Sasuke shot him a lazy glance and then snorted silently, holding back a smirk.

_Big words, Naruto... You're going to regret ever letting them leave your big mouth._

He was awoken from his musings when the waitress came back with the menus and after that Naruto seemed to forget everything about showing off, or even sex for that matter as he buried his head in the thin, leather clothed book.

"Oh, you can design your own dish at this place! I'm gonna get the coolest ramen bowl ever made!" he exclaimed happily, quickly flipping the pages.

Sasuke smiled a little behind his own menu, but quickly shook it off.

It was time.

Slowly he uncurled his legs from underneath his seat and stretched one of them out and lightly rubbed his foot against Naruto's leg.

On the other side of the table Naruto jerked a bit out of surprise, but after a quick glance under the table top he looked up and caught Sasuke's eye. A hint of a smile later the blonde was once again hiding behind pages and Sasuke's foot got met by Naruto's in a quick flirt.

Due to the table linens all activities that took place underneath the table were hidden from view, which of course, Sasuke had already made sure of. He had taste, sure, but he didn't exactly pick this place by accident.

Slowly, he let his foot run up along the orange clad leg to the knee and then down again, then he switched and went over to the other one before returning to the staring point. Naruto made no attempts of answering his actions, something that for once suited the Uchiha's intentions perfectly.

Leaning on the table with his chin propped up in the palm of his left hand he slowly let his right one slide into his pocket and pulled out the object which he had spent the entire week working at.

It was small, size chosen so that he would be able to hide it in his pocket without it being seen. Luckily, Naruto had already proven that the quite large accessories needed to perform the jutsu were of no use once the seals had been performed which made the whole hiding-thing easier.

He had basically followed Naruto's example and used an old plushie toy with blonde hair, complete with three lines that adorned each cheek which had been made by a black marker.

However, the first thing one would notice about this doll wasn't the hair or the facial scars. No, it was much more direct and eye-catching than that. The first thing one would notice about this doll was the fact that it was butt-naked.

The second thing you'd notice would be that this doll should definitely come with a NC-17 label, since it had quite a prominent... well... penis.

To be honest he had almost felt a little bit embarrassed when fixing that part, but then he thought about all the fun one could have with it later and the embarrassment went bye-bye.

And _this_... was later.

While hiding the doll underneath the fabric of the table cloth he removed his actual foot from Naruto's leg and immediately replaced it with his fingertip, stroking the doll's leg up and down in the same, slow pace.

All the while he pretended to read the menu, turning the pages with his other hand as he slowly let his finger travel up and down, up and down, up, up and down, up, up and up, _up_.

Naruto lowered his menu and raised a brow at him.

"This is not the right place you know." He pointed out in a low voice.

Sasuke smirked in return and simply pressed his fingertips harder against the doll's private area, circling it slowly.

Naruto made a startled jump and glared at him.

"Sasuke!" he hissed and Sasuke quickly removed his finger when Naruto reached down to thwack his 'foot' away.

Thinking he had missed the other Naruto fired off a reprimanding glare and then went back to the menu.

Seriously, what was the bastard thinking, in a public place like this?

It didn't take long before Sasuke's foot returned however, and even though Naruto couldn't understand how anyone could perform such toe-movements with their shoes still on, he had to admit that it actually didn't feel that bad...

Judging by Sasuke's behaviour the Uchiha seemed to have more things planned for him tonight than just dinner.

A chill went down his spine at the thought about what such things could be, but then he snapped back to reality again when he noticed that he was getting a little bit more excited than he should be getting at the time. He didn't want to spend half his meal trying to will down a boner or risk sitting through the whole dinner in pain if he didn't succeed.

"Sasuke, can we just eat for now?" he suggested, reaching down to swat at his partner again.

He missed of course, but the movement seized and Naruto sighed with relief and continued reading.

He was going to have extra pork in his ramen, that was absolutely certain and perhaps some extra fish cakes too...

He almost groaned out loud with annoyance when the pressure on his groin and inner thigh returned and he resolutely brought his knees together to close the offending limb out and perhaps even catch Sasuke's foot in the process.

Not that he did, and not that it helped since the feeling of something slowly massaging his crotch didn't weaver the slightest and he scowled. Waving his own leg around a bit underneath the table he tried to locate the one causing the rapidly increasing problem below his waistline, but alas, there was nothing to be located.

He tried to hide his confused scowl and sent Sasuke a quick glance. The other was busy reading and didn't seem to pay any attention to him so Naruto slowly lowered his hand from the table and sneaked it down into his lap where the pressure was directed and groped around for something to catch.

He found nothing.

A particularly sensitive stroke made shivers travel through his body and... wait a minute - a _stroke_?

He quickly lifted the table cloth and looked down into his lap where his boner could be seen clearly through his pants and realised that whatever it was that he felt it sure as hell didn't come from Sasuke's foot!

"Hey, what the-fmuhpf?!"

His outburst was silenced when Sasuke pressed the pad of his thumb against the doll's mouth, looking extremely amused about the fact that Naruto had realised that something out of the ordinary was going on.

"Now, don't make a scene." He drawled. "I'm your boyfriend, remember?"

"Mmfhmuphf!"

"Don't be like that, Naruto." He scraped a nail down the front of the doll's chest and abs, smirking evilly as the blonde on the opposite side of the table made an undignified noise and squirmed in his seat.

"You seem a bit tense, need help relaxing?" he asked sweetly before gracing the tip of the doll's nipple with his nail.

"Fhumu-_uhh_..."

The blonde quickly clamped his teeth shut when the pressure suddenly disappeared around his mouth and allowed an embarrassingly loud moan to slip out from between his lips. He dared a stealthy look at the other guests to see if anyone had heard him before he turned back to the still smirking Uchiha.

"Sasuke!" he gritted out between his teeth. "Knock it o-ohh-... off!"

"Why?"

"Because!"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can accept that as a legitimate answer."

"Teme...! I'll k-kill you!"

"Somehow I find that very hard to believe." As to prove a point he grabbed both of the dolls arms, unceremoniously causing Naruto's own to slam down and lock against the table top.

"You're going to do exactly what I want you to do, free will or not. And right now, I want you to be still and relax."

Naruto glared at him.

"You're an asshole!"

"Uh-huh." Sasuke didn't pay his insult much attention. He lazily kept up the stroking of the doll, skimming his fingers over the plush body, but this time always avoiding the area between the legs.

"You can't hold me forever." Naruto did his best in holding his voice steady as the ghostly sensation swept over his skin.

"Wanna bet?" Sasuke deadpanned.

"Sasuke, let go."

"You're not relaxing yet."

"Of course I'm not relaxing! You're pissing me off, what did you expect!?"

Sasuke tilted his head and pretended to ponder that question for a moment.

"True... But you're sexier when mad anyways, so I don't care."

"Stop talking shit, Uchiha!"

"Oh, so you're reverting to surnames now?"

Naruto bit back a groan when the pressure dug into his shoulder blades and stared moving down, causing shudders to run down his spine.

"Sasuke... stop it...!"

"You might as well stop struggling; you'll end up doing what I want anyway."

"Oh yeah? And...ng... why would I-ah... I do that?"

The feeling moved down and around his body, slowly drawing nearer to his crotch, which by now was sporting a tent so tightly stretched it was almost painful. He tried to ignore the smugness radiating from off his boyfriend, but it was extremely difficult.

"Because..." the raven drawled. "Unlike that little improvised rape tool _you_ had, _mine_ does not lack... '_parts_'."

He let the last word roll of his tongue in a sensual whisper before he ran the tip of his finger along the length of the doll's penis, circling the head shallowly.

"Aah...!"

Naruto almost bit his tongue off in pure shock and he could feel his eyes roll back into his head out of the unexpected stimulus. As that single, wicked finger kept swirling around the head of 'his' member, his breath began growing ragged and uneven.

He couldn't believe it, the bastard made a frickin sex-doll!

"You're... ha...ah.... s-sick!"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at him and the movement stopped.

"Why so upset, Dobe?" he asked mockingly. "I told you long ago, you had this coming."

Naruto wanted to punch that superior smirk off his face in that exact moment.

"You can't be serious! This is _revenge_?!"

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous."

Naruto looked at him in confusion, but his questioning expression quickly turned into one of complete horror when Sasuke raised his hand into the air and smirked at him.

"But _this_ is. Excuse me, miss?"

Like a dog responding to a dog whistle, the waitress on the other side of the room perked her head up and fired off a blinding smile before beginning to make her way between the tables like an incoming train. Sasuke might be an x-con, but the fan girls were as rabid as ever. And the bastard knew this.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto squeaked in a low whisper. Sasuke just kept smirking.

"We're going to play a little game you and me. It's called 'Find-Naruto's-Hotspots-And-Make-Him-Cum-In-His-Pants-In-Front-Of-The-Entire-Restaurant-And-Embarrass-Himself-Game'."

Naruto's jaw dropped.

"That is..." Sasuke continued with an evil glint in his dark eyes. "Unless Naruto can keep quiet."

"Perverted son of a bitch!"

Actually, Naruto would have liked to call the raven far worse things than that, but he quickly shut his mouth when the waitress arrived at the table and once again sent one of those radiating smiles that made the sun look like a mediocre ceiling lamp in Sasuke's direction.

"Yes sir, what can I do for you?" she chirped in a voice that _she_ surely thought was very flirtatious, but which to Sasuke sounded like the voice of a five-year old. They way she just stood there; smiling like an air head and batting her eyelashes at him, it honestly made him want to stand up and leave, but despite her desperate attempt of seduction he managed to return the smile – pouring every inch of his Uchiha-Lone-Avenger-Bad-Boy charm into it – and almost puked when the girl started to dote and fawn over him as if she would have been ready to strip and jump him right then and there.

"Hi, sorry to bother you," he said graciously "but would you mind reading us the specials?"

"Of course not, sir." Came the twittering answer and then she started talking.

Naruto's defences instantly went up but it wasn't fast enough. A loud gasp fell from his lips before he could stop it when the teasingly smooth movement picked up inside his pants and he quickly snapped his mouth shut, hoping that the girl didn't notice. Of course, she hadn't, she was still too busy trying to overwhelm Sasuke with her feminine charms.

It was with difficulties he managed to even his breath again, trying to concentrate on the voice of the waitress instead of the tingles in his groin. How silly she looked when twirling her hair in between her fingers, how she deliberately pressed her upper arms together to give her boobs a push-up effect, the annoying sound of her giggles and the deep velvet of Sasuke's voice when he interrupted her to ask some unnecessary question, how the sound of it dripped of warm honey causing electricity to burst through his entire body and _oh what the hell was he thinking_!?

He barely managed to suppress a groan when said electricity clenched his lungs together with arousal and his stiff member twitched inside his boxers. His arms were still locked tightly against the table so he couldn't even muffle his harsh breathing with his hand so instead he was forced to sit and stare down into the table top while trying to keep his mouth shut.

Sasuke sent him a fleeting, yet evaluating glance from the other side of the table.

That's right, let the moron think he'll be able to keep himself under control; in the end it was only going to make his own victory so much sweeter.

His index finger kept working slowly against the doll that was still hidden underneath the table and even if Naruto was actually hiding his reactions pretty well, Sasuke could still see the shudders run through the tense body when he got in contact with one of the blonde's sweet spots. A little lower, a little faster...

"... and then we have a new dish; the chef introduced it himself just this season; it's a barbequed beef with soy glace, rice and..."

"Nng...!"

She stopped and glanced at Naruto who was still staring into the table with his expression hidden behind golden bangs, but she quickly lost interest in the stiff boy and returned to Sasuke who smiled politely to make her continue.

"... soy glace, rise and steamed vegetables with..."

Naruto was trying his best not to pant or gasp but it was like catching smoke with your bare hands. He could suppress them, scatter them lightly but he couldn't _stop_ them. Oh please, please, _please_ make this chick as stupid as she looked!

Sasuke watched in amusement how the indirect object of his ministrations was faring and decided that it was time to proceed to step two.

"Excuse me, but could you repeat that third dish again?"

As the girl started to go over what had to be the most complicated and probably most unappetizing dish the raven had ever heard of, Sasuke reached out and grabbed a pair of chopsticks from a tall jar that stood at the far end of the table in acted absent-mindedness and snapped it in two, putting one of the sticks into his mouth and chewing on it thoughtfully, as if contemplating on which food to pick.

He heard how the lame excuse of a woman in front of him began to stutter at what he knew was a very sexy pose – he had used it on Naruto more than once – and he finished the task of moistening the stick as quickly a he could so that she wouldn't go into epileptic shock or something and ruin his plan completely...

Holding the girl's gaze to make sure she was focusing on his face only and making sure Naruto wasn't looking his way, he then sneaked the chopstick underneath the table to join the voodoo doll in the next step of his get-back-on-Naruto-plan.

He and Naruto had been together since that day when the moron had come barging into his house and - more or less - forced him to beat the crap out of him, and once they had - more or less - made up and the raven realised that there was nothing standing between him and his Dobe anymore, he had, quite understandably, used every opportunity he got to initiate sex with said moron.

However, he had held himself back on a very, _very_ tough topic - he had never topped.

He had always allowed Naruto to do that, urged him on even to make him believe that's what he wanted while the facts remained; Sasuke was an Uchiha, and as an Uchiha it wasn't in his nature to become anybody's bitch, boyfriend or no boyfriend, without this person paying a price.

Still, Naruto was pretty new to this whole gay-sex-thing. That night when he, in lack of a better word, kidnapped Sasuke he had been nervous as hell, god knows it hadn't shown, but he had benn, and the voodoo doll had acted as a lifeline for him, giving him opportunities to do certain things differently if he felt his nerves giving out on him. And since he had always topped and Sasuke hadn't made any attempts to make him do otherwise, Naruto was still unfamiliar to the feeling of having something long and hard inside of him.

Sasuke would have wanted to give him that experience in person, but for the sake of his revenge he would gladly give that up and by doing it this way he would be able to watch and revel in Naruto's reactions on an entirely different level...

Flipping the doll over underneath the table, he slowly dragged the chopstick down it's back and down to it's buttocks where the second of those ridiculously looking details were located – a hole. Of course it was much bigger than it would have been in real life, but the important thing was that it was there.

He didn't even glance in the blonde's direction when he began to ease the stick inside, moving very slowly, mostly because he didn't want to injure what a more soppy soul would have called the love of his life, but also because he wanted Naruto to become perfectly aware of what was about to happen.

He could feel the blonde's twitch reverb through the wood of the table and he was more than certain that he had heard a gasp just now.

Pulling the stick almost the whole way out again he then pushed it back in, a little deeper but still in the same slow pace.

Was he trembling? Oh yeah, Sasuke was absolutely sure that Naruto was trembling.

Pull, push, pull, push...

The blonde was biting his lip, like he always did that when he didn't want Sasuke to hear that he was reacting to something. Oh Naruto, how foolish... It was just a matter of time until he found _that_ spot and then the dobe would be in real trouble.

Push, pull, change angle, push, pull, change angle...

"And then of course we have the desserts – today's special is chocolate cake topped with strawberry liqueur and..."  
"Ugh...!"

The girl sent Naruto a questioning look when the blonde suddenly moaned loudly, thus missing out on the sight of the triumphant smirk appearing on Sasuke's face.

_Bingo!_

"Sir, are you feeling alright?" she asked, sounded anything but interested in knowing or caring about the answer.

"I-I'm fine... just fine..."

Naruto fired of the widest fake smile Sasuke had ever seen at the same time as he managed to give Sasuke a hard kick underneath the table. Sasuke pretended that he didn't notice, but he stopped the stick's movement long enough for Naruto to perform an answer.

"I... I just hate strawberries, hehe...he..."

The waitress looked at Naruto as if he was a complete retard and then she returned her attention to Sasuke with an offended snort and continued reciting the menu with the same passion as if it had been the story of her life.

Naruto glared at his boyfriend, his cock straining against the confinement of his trousers.

That jerk just shoved something up his ass, damn it!

He shoved something up his ass in _public_!!

He pulled his leg back to give the raven another kick, but then the bastard did it again!

"Haah..." he breathed out a new moan, forcing himself to keep as quiet as possible and barely managed to avoid a new glare from the waitress.

The thing Sasuke was using on him was stretching him, pulling in and out so slowly, grazing a spot inside him that made his lungs clench every time. He was starting to sweat and he was fisting his hands so hard his knuckles were turning pale enough to match the white table cloth and his lips were pressed tightly together to form a single, thin line.

That smug bastard, that motherfucking assho-_oooh God!_

A hissed out "shit...!" slipped through his teeth and he did his best trying to focus on the tabletop as if he could will it to save him from this horrible situation he was in. What he assumed to be Sasuke's hands kept moving over his body in fleeting strokes and god knows how he did it, but the bastard had actually found a way to tweak his nipples! That was just not fair! _This_ was not fair!

_He can't do this to me; he just can't _do_ this to me!_

Damn his traitorous tongue, damn his traitorous body and damn that traitorous, smug, self-centred sex-on-legs Uchiha on the other side of the table!

He knew that he was watching him; he could feel those dark eyes on him almost as clearly as he could feel the touches on his skin and it made his blood run hot in his veins. He dared himself a quick look at his boyfriend and felt that insane clench in his abs once again. Sasuke was basically eating him up with his eyes and there was a faint flicker of crimson that indicated that he was using his Sharingan to make sure he wouldn't miss out on anything.

_He was using his Sharingan..._

Naruto's mouth went dry and the spark igniting throughout his body almost caused him to toss his head back and release a clenched, but throaty moan.

Could it be... that Sasuke was actually enjoying this... in a different way than just for revenge? He had always been a sadistic person, watching Naruto being sexually tortured probably turned him on tremendously. Maybe... maybe Sasuke was sitting right in front of him with a tent of his own... and... maybe that voodoo doll wasn't the only thing he was working underneath that table...

The thought made him shudder violently and caused his breath to hitch. Oh, couldn't that girl just _leave_, he wasn't sure if he would be able to take this much longer! But oh no, she was just standing there, going on about meet and vegetables and flambé and rice that had been steamed in five different ways, etc, etc, etc. How many dishes could a restaurant have anyway?!

And that's when the horrifying truth dawned on him.

She wasn't leaving.

Sasuke,that ass, _knew_ that she was going to stand there as long as she could, in other words - until they had ordered their food!

How the hell was Naruto going to be able to order food in a state like this?! He couldn't even _breathe_ properly!

And now the bastard was speeding up, oh god, oh shit, oh_ fuck_!

The bundle of nerves inside him was suddenly getting pounded in such a ruthless pace that it made his head throb with each hit and he knew that Sasuke was tired of him managing to keep his mouth shut and had decided to play dirty. The hard object was ramming into him deeper than before and the slight sting of pain he felt was drenched in the overwhelming sparks of pleasure that spread it's tingling through every nerve of his body.

By now he was leaking through his boxers and his dick was so sensitized that he barely dared to shift his body in fear of cuming when it rubbed against the moistened fabric, biting his bottom lip so hard it actually started to bleed.

Naruto was a very vocal person, he had been called the number one loudest ninja in Konoha throughout his entire life and that went for all aspects of it, something that he hadn't bothered trying to hide from the Uchiha in the first place and had this been at a different, more private place, he would be tossing and turning while moaning his heart out by now.

But this wasn't a private place, in fact it was a very much public place and Naruto couldn't' toss or turn as much as a centimetre due to his arms being locked on top of the table and even though he _could_ moan his heart out if he wanted to, he sure as hell wasn't _going to_ unless the restaurant suddenly and mysteriously got cleared on all it's people.

His muscles were quivering and twitching, his shoulders were trembling and his pulse was rushing his blood like a wildfire through his veins, but he had to keep quiet, so quiet, oh god he wouldn't be able to, god damn it, _Sasukeee_...!

He felt the sounds bubble up his throat and he knew he wasn't going to be able to stop it this time, it was all too much, too fast, too rough and _oohh_!

Naruto was loud, Naruto was energetic, Naruto was impulsive... he might not be a complete genius, but he _was_ the number one surprising ninja in Konoha so he did the only thing his pleasure-hazed brain could think of – he slammed his head into the tabletop, moaning out his pent up frustration into the wooden surface.

The waitress made a startled jump into the air and almost dropped her notepad.

"Oh my, are you all right?" This time she actually managed to sound concerned.

"I'm fine... I'm – Oh god! – just f-fi...aah!"

"Are you sure?" she gave him a worried look, mistaking his groans for ones made in pain.

"Yeah, I-ah... I just... ha... remembered something I forgot to... t-to do-ohh!"

At that, her confused and shocked expression instantly changed and went back to the condescending and slightly disgusted face she had shown towards him earlier, now thinking that the guy must be some kind of mental case and that he obviously wasn't worthy of her concern.

She glanced at Sasuke, as if seeking his support, only to find him looking at the blonde with a weird smile on his lips.

"Sir?" she asked, trying to regain his attention, but Sasuke had grown tired of her presence and it was with a light hint of annoyance that he returned her gaze.

"I think we need some more time. We'll call for you when we're done deciding."

Not even a deaf person could have avoided hearing the definitive tone in that sentence and the girl quickly backed away from the table with a light bow and then disappeared into the back of the restaurant, ignoring the calls for attention from the other guests.

Her disappointment didn't bother Sasuke the slightest. She would be off flirting with at least three more people within the next thirty minutes and knowing that girl's reputation he felt sorry for any guy who would come close enough to even touch her with a four feet tong...

Besides, he had more interesting matters to take care of.

His smirk grew wider as he looked over at Naruto, who was still trying to muffle his moans, this time by burying his face into the sleeve of his shirt, squeezing his eyes shut and breathing harshly through his nose.

"Nice move, Dobe. You almost had _me_ going there for a while. But you didn't have to slam your head down that hard, you know."

Naruto opened a heavy eyelid and glared at him, his focus being ruined by the lusty fog clouding his vision and even if he didn't say anything, Sasuke could still hear the words as clearly as if they had been spoken inside his very head.

_Fuck. You._

Sasuke's face momentarily clouded over – the Dobe was so stubborn! – but then the smile returned to his face and he slowly, and deliberately visibly, brought his second hand down and underneath the table as well.

He could se Naruto's eyes widen and had to force back a chuckle. He allowed himself to slowly caress one of the doll's whiskered cheeks and noticed how the blonde twitched a little from the unexpected, yet gentle, touch.

"So, what do you say?" he asked, almost tenderly. "How about we finish this?"

A small glimmer of relief flickered in blue eyes, but died just as fast when the pace of thrusts suddenly changed from teasingly quick jabs to slow, firm blows of heat against his prostate.

The force of each hit forced him to slump down over the table and actually claw at the surface to keep from moving back and forth. His breath caught in his throat and he gasped for air.

"You like that?" he heard Sasuke's whipsered voice ask from just in front of him and looked up, coming face to face with hungry, crimson eyes.

"Sasuke, for fuck sakes... ah!"

A whimper flew across his lips and he dug his mouth into the soft and by now slightly moist fabric of his sweater once again to muffle it, but this time Sasuke wouldn't allow that.

Flicking the doll's arm gently, he caused the arm that for the moment served as Naruto's sweet salvation to jerk violently and slide further away from his mouth, out of reach.

"Don't hold back on me, Naruto." He scolded. "I want to hear every word."

"Sasuke..."

_Begging._

"...please..."

_Pleading._

"...I can't... take...ng!"

Oh, how he loved it.

Taking no heed to the poor boy's whimpers he began moving his second hand over the voodoo doll's body, pinching and rolling miniature nipples beneath the pad of his fingers, fondling ever pleasure point he knew of on their way down to their final destination. Naruto was shuddering and panting helplessly against the table-top, silenced fragments of broken words that despite their vocal harshness begged him to keep going faster, harder and to never, ever stop. Small beads of sweat had formed by his temples and as Sasuke watched, one of them rolled down and hit the white linen beneath, spreading a pale blossom of moist on the spotless surface that probably would have gone him by unnoticed if he hadn't been using his Sharingan.

The raw beauty of the blonde's pleasured agony was nothing but maddening and it was only the resolve of his Uchiha blood that kept him from moaning out himself.

He saw Naruto tilt his head up and gasp for air once more, his nails digging into the white fabric as he tried to repress his need for release.

"Sasuke... I..."

He tried to form a second word, but it got drowned out by a new whimper and his eyes momentarily closed before opening again. Rosy lips were moving, trying to remember which shape that created which sound and finally they managed to perform the right combination.

"Nah-napkin...!"

Blue eyes flickered desperately towards the small stand containing napkins that stood on the far end of the table, his left hand twisting in an almost unnatural angle to reach it.

He was so close, but he couldn't allow himself to just spill inside his pants, no matter how pressing his situation might be!

Sasuke looked at his hand, then glanced over at the napkin holder and back to the hand again, amusement shining through in his eyes.

"What?" he asked mockingly. "You're saying you want this?" he raised his hand, placing it on the small container and slowly slid it across the table, only to stop just out of reach for Naruto's grappling fingers.

"_Sasuke_...!"

"You sure? Because it would be so much more fun to simply do _this_."

Without warning Naruto's body was slammed up against the seat and his head tilted back, forcing him to reveal his face to his smirking tablemate His hands were temporarily released from the table, only to get locked tightly along the sides of his body the second after.

"This way I get to see _everything_..." the raven mused, also leaning back against the wall behind him, eyeing the other up and down while he let the second hand slowly slide underneath the table once more.

Naruto's pathetic cry of protest died on his lips when the object moving inside him speeded up and caused his eyes to roll back in his head. Pulsating heat rushed through and drowned him in flames, efficiently destroying every reasonable thought that was left in his head before it finally turned his self-control into ash.

"Ah..! Sah-... N-no...oh...!"

He wasn't aware of the fact that he had closed his eyes, or the fact that he was squirming in his seat, he wasn't aware of anything else but the feel of Sasuke's phantom hands roaming his body and the horrible heat that was devouring him in such a heartbreaking speed.

"Sasuke... please...I...! Ah...ah!"

_Too late!_

"Oh, whatever."

With a nonchalant gesture Sasuke reached over and flicked the napkin stand with his hand, sending it sliding across the table and down into Naruto's lap at the same time as he released the grip around the doll's arms.

Grappling desperately, Naruto got hold of a fistful of white sheets and somehow managed to shove them down his pants a split second before orgasm hit and he came hard into the bundle of papers while biting down on his lower lip to hold back the feral groan fighting its way up his throat.

"_Fuck...!_"

His body tensed and shook violently as he rode out his high and then his muscles slowly began to relaxe and allowed him to slump down against the seat like a limp, panting pile of mushy satisfaction, the buzz of his orgasm still wrecking through his system in time with the erratic beat of his racing pulse.

It took him a while to realise that he had his eyes closed and when he opened them he was met with a very smug and, for an Uchiha, very wide grin.

"My, that looked like fun."

Naruto blinked twice, still a bit dazed and then the realisation that he was sitting in the middle of a restaurant with his hand still shoved down his boxers dawned on him and he quickly straightened up, ripping his hand back out of his pants so hard he actually cracked a seam.

"You asshole!" he snarled.

"Hn."

Bolting up and lashing out over the table he reached out his fist, ready to grab the other boy's collar and yank him out of that cool smugness of his before he pummelled him into the nearest wall he could find.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"Lower your voice and sit down, moron."

A stirring movement in his lower region alerted Naruto on the fact that Sasuke still had the voodoo doll in his other hand and he abruptly halted in his movement and then slowly dropped down onto his seat once more, glaring flaming daggers at his tormentor.

"Ass..." he mumbled, though most of his previous hostility had somehow miraculously disappeared. Sure, he still wanted to hurt the bastard, but he wasn't stupid enough to try it while he still had the doll. He kept glaring at Sasuke who had gone back to flipping pages in the menu, seemingly forgotten all about his pissed off boyfriend.

Seconds passed, slowly turning into minutes and Sasuke still hadn't uttered a word.

After what felt like an eternity Naruto couldn't hold it in any longer.

"So what happens now?" He snapped, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

Sasuke glanced up at him and raised a brow.

"What do you mean? We eat of course."

Naruto's jaw almost hit the tabletop.

Was he serious?! He just fucking voodoo-raped him and now he wants _food_?!

He couldn't even come up with a proper answer, the only sound coming out of his mouth being some kind of disbelieved squawk.

Sasuke turned another page.

"Listen, I told you I'd take you to dinner and I'm going to. If you still want to fight after that, fine, be my guest, but right now, I'm hungry."

Again with the squawking.

"Besides, this place is known to be Ichiraku's biggest competitor when it comes to ramen. I thought you'd like to try it out."

"There's no one better than Ichiraku's!" Naruto immediately snapped back.

"Not what I've heard."

"Oh yeah? Well they better prove it to me first!"

Sasuke didn't even bother to hide his smirk as Naruto swallowed the bait; hook, line and sinker. If there was anything that triggered the blonde's competitive streak faster than an insult, it was questioning the quality of his favourite ramen.

Naruto didn't seem to realise that he had been manipulated to momentarily forgett how mad he was and was now busy outdoing Sasuke in flipping the pages of the menu.

The raven watched him for a little while before he carefully reached over and shut the book in the blonde's face.

"Don't be a pig, Dobe. Go wash your hands off."

Naruto was one the verge of mouthing back, but knowing that the bastard was right he decided not to. He gave the raven a long evaluating look and after deeming it safe to get up from the table he then set his course towards the sign labelled "men's room".

Sasuke followed him with his eyes as he disappeared around a corner and then waited until he heard the door open and close on the other side before he slowly shook his head and chuckled silently to himself.

This was almost too easy...

------------

------------

Naruto turned the water faucet off and was just about to reach down and re-zip his pants when he suddenly got grabbed from behind and shoved into the nearest bathroom stall, clinging to the toilette seat to break his fall.

He heard the door slam shut behind him, but before he had the chance to get up or even less turn around he got roughly pushed up against the wall, face-first with a hand covering his mouth and his arm wringed up against his back in an iron grip.

Of course he knew who it was from the very moment those hands landed on his body, but that didn't exactly keep him from getting pissed off.

He heard a sharp hiss from behind him when he bit down on intruding the finger that was prodding at his mouth, but his victory was short-lived when a knee was harshly brought up and in-between his legs.

"How feisty."

He felt Sasuke press his body closer and how a low, husky breath ghosted against his ear.

"You should learn some manners."

Naruto had been right about the fact that Sasuke was a sadist alright, at least if the hardness pressing against his backside was of any indication.

Teeth suddenly bit down loosely on the lobe of his ear and he gasped involuntarily, feeling the lips of his assaulter widen in a smirk. The knee between his legs began moving in slow circles against his groin at the same time as the hand covering his mouth released its grip.

"Get off, bastard!" he spat out, tossing his head to the side to create some distance between his ear and Sasuke's mouth.

"I intend to."

The hand that had been pressed against his mouth only a second ago suddenly dove down inside his still unzipped pants and griped him possessively. Naruto gasped for air when a thumb began rubbing against the head of his still sensitised cock and bucked his hips, hearing Sasuke moan silently when his erection rubbed against the other' ass through their clothes.

"That eager are you?" Sasuke whispered, lips brushing against Naruto's neck and up behind his ear.

"That's not what I was-ah!"

Naruto's eyes clamped shut when an electric current shot up through his body and he groaned.

"Fucking...ha... perv!" he panted out, gritting his teeth against the new wave of heat caused by the firm strokes over his now hard member.

"Am I now?"

Naruto shuddered, his eyes closing momentarily.

How come this situation felt so awfully familiar?

The hand that had been squeezing his member suddenly released him only to yank down his trousers and boxers in one swift movement.

"If I'm such a pervert, then how come you still haven't made any attempts to get away with that free arm of yours?"

_So familiar... When...?_

Naruto's breath hitched at the feeling of a cold hand against his naked buttocks, but he didn't move. He couldn't say that he was very happy with the turn this visit to the restaurant had taken, but on the other hand...

A new hiss broke out from between his lips when a dry finger slipped inside the already loosened ring of muscles in his ass and began moving slowly in and out in rough thrusts that had him leaning and panting against the wall in a matter of seconds.

He felt the lips against his neck widen into a smug grin.

"Hn. That's what I thought..."

Naruto's breath started to grow ragged and shallow as the finger working him got joined by a second one while speeding up and soon he was bracing himself against the wall with his free hand, pressing his forehead against the cooling surface of the tile wall in front of him.

Sasuke nuzzled his nose against his neck and the combination of hot breath, butterfly kisses and the tickle of black hair made him quiver. A tongue lapped against his pulse, sending out a dull throb that went straight to his groin and he heard Sasuke whisper something into the curve of his neck. The smooth sound of the raven's voice, the loving kisses against his skin – it was the complete opposite of the eager movements of the fingers still probing him.

"I'm going to let go of your arm now, Naruto. Will you behave yourself?"

Naruto swallowed hard and tried not to moan.

His brain was screaming for him to not give in, to turn around and give the bastard a punch in the face as soon as he got the chance, but his body was urging him on to just go with it, to enjoy the pleasure he knew would come if he gave the raven free access to his body.

Was he really going to do this?

He knew he had more or less deserved that thing out in the restaurant, he had been quite an ass to Sasuke before, even if he personally thought that the bastard had taken his revenge a litte too far. And now to have his lover halfnaked and desperate for sex right on top of him... well let's just say his punishment could have been a whole lot worse.

After all, he could always punch the smartass in the face when they got home, just to prove a point...

A sudden wave of heat rippled through him and he gasped loudly, but when he bucked his hips to make the digits hit his prostate again the fingers inside him cruelly seized their movement. He tried to push back, but at that both fingers abruptly left his body.

"Well?" Sasuke inquired.

Naruto groaned, his shoulder slumping down in defeat.

"You're awful..." he muttered, if not a little less irritable.

"So they say."

Naruto's body trembled when the two digits were re-placed by his entrance and slowly eased inside anew and the grip around his twisted arm loosened, but before he released it Sasuke leaned in and whispered in his ear;

"But you've got to admit that it ain't always that bad..."

The fingers inside his ass suddenly curled upwards and jabbed his prostate dead on, making him cry out loudly in shock. The movement was repeated again and again, over and over until his knees felt like they were about to give away on him.

The white sparks of lightning that were flying through his body were so distracting that he didn't hear the rustle of clothes behind him when Sasuke used his now unoccupied hand to rid himself of his own trousers before he spat in the palm and used the saliva to moisten his own throbbing erection.

The sight of Naruto panting and moaning in front of him and the feel of the muscles clenching down on his fingers was absolutely euphoric and it was with a predatorial look in his eyes that he pulled the digits out and positioned himself behind the blonde.

"Ready?" he asked hoarsely.

A light shiver was all he got in return, but the anticipated moan the other made when he placed his cock against the puckered entrance was all he needed to hear before he slowly began to ease himself inside.

The constricting heat was overwhelming. Flames of desire flared up and pooled in the pit of his stomach as he sank deeper, inch by inch and he bit down on his lower lip to keep himself from moaning out as he watched himself disappear into the blissful body before him

"Naruto..."

The throaty name that was breathed into Naruto's ear sizzled and burned its way down to the pit of his stomach like a bolt of lightning, turning the task of drawing breath into the most difficult action on earth.

The hand that had been used to remove Sasuke's pants was removed and instead wrapped around the blonde's torso, pulling him back againts the Uchiha's chest, allowing the raven to bury his face against the tan skin of his shoulder and neck.

The Uchiha's rough breaths tickled the small strands of hair on his neck and he shuddered, closing his eyes to allow himself to drift away in the feel of Sasuke's bodyheat that pressed so tightly against him.

The needy pace of Sasuke's fingers was gone, now replaced with the slow, drawn-out thrusts of hips that pushed forward, enlighting sparks of desire in the pit of their stomachs that then was allowed to die out before new where sent flaring up.

Everything went so slow, to the sound of their joined breaths to the dripping of water from the faucet outside the stall door. Naruto leaned back and placed his one hand on top of Sasuke's arm, feeling the raven's grip around his body harden and lips press against his right shoulderblade and then a low, hoarse whisper came floating throught the air and tentatively caressed his ear.

"I hated you..."

Blue eyes opened slightly, but Naruto didn't say antything.

"I hated you... so much..."

Whispered words, leaving an eletrical surge in the air. Sasuke's lips moved against his skin, sharing the same languid pace as their bodies, but the words felt rushed, as if keeping them in his mouth too long was painful somehow.

"You broke me, you moron. You just barged into my life and you broke me... You made me _depend_. I promised myself I would never let that happen again, but you... you just..."

He took a shuddering breath and gritted his teeth.

"I _really_ hated you."

The corner of Naruto's lip curled upward. Love confessions had never been Sasuke's strong side.

"I hated you too."

He heard Sasuke let out something that he defined as a snorted laugh and then his hands loosened around Naruto's torso.

"Turn around."

"Huh?"

"Turn around."

Naruto felt his boyfriend slip out of him and how a new grip on his shoulder gently but firmly forced him to turn his back towards the wall and come face to face with a pair of needy, crimson eyes.

"I want to see you..."

Sasuke's low words wound themselves underneath Naruto's skin and made his heart clench with a surging desire that caused a low moan to erupt from his lips and tilt his head back. Immediately he felt Sasuke's lips latch on to the curve of his neck and suckle slowly on his pulse, his tounge lavishing the golden skin and trailing up to his ear and teasing the lobe with gentle nips of his teeth.

"Ah... Sasuke..."

"Raise your leg and lean back."

Obidiently, Naruto did as he was told and felt Sasuke's hand reach down and grab his thigh, lifting it up and then immediately do the same with the other leg, leaving Naruto grapling in the air for support in order not to fall down.

He managed to grab hold of the top of the seperating wall of the bathroom stall with one hand and the other he quickly wrapped around Sasuke's neck. There was a loud, slightly alarming creak from the wall behind him, but he soon forgot all about it when Sasuke lowered him down and eased into him again, this time with a bit more force than before.

Pleasure racked through his body and had Sasuke not been holding on to him he would have fallen down out of pure exctasy.

He heard Sasuke groan into his chest and he felt the raven's body quiver against his own as he began moving faster, sending blazing sensations of hot, white fire throughout his system.

Naruto was desperatley looking for some kind of support for his body and somehow he managed to find footing on top of the toiletseat with one of his feet, allowing him to releave Sasuke of some of his bodyweight.

The thought that someone else might hear them if they were to walk into the bathroom never even occured to niether of them, and even if it would have, they wouldn't have been able to stop themselves. Suddenly the thought about what people would say if they found out didn't matter anymore, in fact, as far as the couple was concerned that part of the world had ceased to exist. The booth they were in was their entire universe now, filled with the sound of rough breathing, the intoxicating feel of heated skin, while everything outside the four walls was just a grey, undefined matter without substance.

What started out with a slow rocking soon turned into a steady pounding and slapping of skin against skin, hands fisting hair and needy fingers digging into flesh. Sasuke was leaning his head against Naruto's neck and his ragged breath heated and cooled the blonde's skin in time with the thrusts.

Naruto was loosing his ability to speak. The insane pressure of Sasuke's abdomen against his member was driving him crazy and his body was preventing him to think straight. He could feel his coherence melt away faster and faster as his flushed body rapidly approached it's climax.

"Sasuke… I'm... I'm gonna… oh _god_...!"

That's all the warning he managed to get out before his mind exploded into a burst of sizzling, white stars and through the haze he heard Sasuke let out a loud groan and felt teeth bury themselves into his shoulder to muffle a pleasured cry.

Sasuke's entire body was trembling and it was with pure luck alone that he managed to turn around and let Naruto down on the toiletseat before he slumped down against the wall himself.

For what felt like forever the only sounds being heard were their own heaving breaths and the still slow dripping from the faucet outside the door and Naruto almost thought Sasuke had fallen asleep when he noticed that the raven was actually looking at him through half lidded eyes.

"What?" he asked, straightening up into a somewhat half-lying position.

Sasuke shook his head and closed his eyes again.

"Nothing. Just checking to see if you're mad."

Naruto frowned.

"Well... I _was_ mad..."

Black eyes turned to him anew.

"But not anymore?"

Naruto shrugged, glancing down at the floor.

"Guess not. I mean... It was kinda... justified... But just barely, you know." He added hurriedly when he saw the smirk on his boyfriend's lips, "So we're even now, okay. No need for any more hokus pokus on eachother, agreed?"

The nervous tone in the blonde's voice made him snort out a laugh.

"Agreed."

"So you'll get rid of the doll?"

Sasuke studiously slow stood up from the floor and pulled on his trousers.

"I'll think about it."

Immediately Naruto shot up from his lazy position and stared at him in disbelief.

"You can't do that! You said "agreed", bastard!"

"Oh, get your panties unbunched, idiot, I'm just playin you. The doll has already been deactivated and thrown away. Now get dressed, I'm hungry."

Naruto huffed, but bent down to find his own garments that had somehow found their way halfway into the next booth.

"I can't believe I just let you fuck me in a public bathroom." He muttered and started to pull on his trousers as Sasuke unlocked the door to the booth.

"Get used to it, I've got a list of places far more public than this."

Naruto almost tripped on the hem of his pants in his hurry to follow the raven out into the room.

"You've got a _what_?!"

Sasuke walked up to one of the sinks and turned on the water, washing his hands.

"A list. You know, a paper, usually with numbers and columbs."

"I know what a list is, asshole!"

"Then what's with the stupid question?"

"Stupid question?! You're talking about having a live sexshow in... in, I don't know, a _park_?!"

"The park's on the list, yes."

"_What_?!"

Turning the water off Sasuke turned around, grabbed a papertowel from the holder, dried of his hands and tossed the towel in the trashbin.

"I'm going back out, you hurry up so we can eat."

And with that Uchiha Sasuke strolled out of the bathroom, leaving his to say the least, worried boyfriend behind, standing in the middle of the room with his trousers pooling around his ankles in pure chock.

The End


End file.
